Rambert x (LA) Horde: Bring Your Own

Rambert x (LA) Horde: Bring Your Own

“Daring, dynamic, and unapologetically modern”

As the title suggests, this is a collaboration between French company (LA) Horde and Rambert dancers, resulting in a bold, visceral triple bill that embraces provocation, play, and physical intensity.

The performance is divided into three sections, with the longest piece following the interval.

Hope(e)storm
The evening opens with Hope(e)storm, which gradually builds into a lively number with infectious energy. The choreography fuses elements of Lindy Hop with more modern club and contemporary dance vocabulary. At times, the dancers perform Lindy Hop steps while moving in two spinning lines, reminiscent of precision kick-line routines. There’s a nod to Elvis, cleverly blended with a contemporary bass-heavy drone soundscape, offering a quirky contrast that works surprisingly well.

The lighting is predominantly green and red, casting the dancers in a vivid, almost cinematic glow. All twelve performers do a fantastic job of filling the space both visually and energetically, delivering a tight and playful piece that sets the tone for what’s to come.

Weather is Sweet

The second piece, Weather is Sweet, is clearly designed to challenge and perhaps provoke. It places a spotlight on themes of intimacy, consent, and sex-positivity. As you might expect, there’s plenty of gyrating and hip-swinging, at one point, I’m fairly certain I spotted a few moves straight out of Magic Mike. That said, the physicality never feels gratuitous. The way motifs are introduced and layered with additional performers felt cheeky, subversive, and occasionally hilarious.

Yes, it’s overtly sexual, but not offensive. That being said, costumes (lacking dance shorts), combined with a performer opening the section by thrusting across the stage, may prompt second thoughts about bringing younger audiences. Then again, that’s exactly the provocation at play here: the piece raises the question of what we consider age-appropriate and why.

Spoken words are embedded in the soundtrack, but not in full sentences, just fragments, reinforcing a sense of dislocation and ambiguity.

Room with a View (Extract)

After the interval, we return to a transformed space. The once plain black stage now features a stark white floor, an effective visual reset for Room with a View (extract), the final and lengthiest work of the evening.

This piece reminded me of Trainspotting in mood and tone: gritty, rebellious, and pulsating with urban energy. Triumphant musical swells are interspersed with shouting, swearing, and raised middle fingers. Amid the chaos, there are moments of breathtaking beauty, particularly in the lifts, which showcase strength and sensitivity in equal measure.

A standout visual moment arrives when the lighting takes on the amber hue of a streetlight, a colour rarely seen on stage. It casts an almost monochromatic palette over the dancers, creating a strange, cinematic effect that felt raw and memorable.

As the performance draws to a close, the lights in the auditorium raise up while the cast sing and echo a few final notes on an elongated “la”, the ending landing somewhere between reverence and riot.

Designed by Salomé Poloudenny, the costumes shift throughout the programme but maintain a consistent visual language. Think high-fashion streetwear with a rebellious twist: small bomber jackets with exaggerated shoulders, half-wrap kilts, chaps, and chest cut-outs. It’s the sort of styling you might see outside Central Saint Martins during the summer term.

photography by Hugo Glendinning