Words by Jo Leask.
At Club Groove, Sadler’s Wells East, an evening of dance whisks us away from heatwaves, political mayhem and football.
The voice of the unseen DJ/MC narrates the night, welcoming us to the club and introducing each character as they appear. First up are club janitor Wesley-Denzill, performed by Dani Harris-Walters, and bouncer Tony (Cache Thake), whose preparations for the night aheadinclude warming up the dance floor with their nifty moves and fast breakdancing footwork.
Harris-Walters is joined by two assistants, then by the regulars who frequent Club Groove. Gradually, the dance floor becomes a theatre where anything might happen—and where magic does happen—through a blend of exuberant dance theatre and music. The performers create a diverse community of clubbers expressing themselves through breakdance, waacking, voguing, house and Afro-Caribbean styles, delivering an evening of funky, upbeat music, love, rivalry, glamour and friendship.
Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu’s work, inspired by her own experience of the New York club scene, celebrates club music and dance while capturing the vibrantculture and the characters who shape it. This latest remix of Our Mighty Groove, originally created for her northern-based company Uchenna Dance as a full-length touring work for Wild Card in 2015, brings together seven professional dancers and four emerging young artists. Community building, connection and the nurturing of young artists lie at the heart of Uchenna’s work.
The dancers embody distinct personalities through the dramatic postures and gestures of waacking and voguing, each drawing on a fusion of forms—some more vogue, others more waack. There is club divaand fashionista Bougetta (Kabuki Johnson), full of herself and striking condescending poses left, right and centre. Blue, the extrovert influencer (Iona Brie),wants to be where the action is, while her uncool, prim friend Jessie (Shula Carter) unexpectedlybecomes Bougetta’s rival on the dance floor. The warm-hearted, relatable Tracee (Jackie Kibuka),with her centred, lush movement, finds love with bouncer Tony, while the dynamic, idiosyncratic Sam(Angelika Napierala) keeps the energy high with her infectious enthusiasm and sharp moves. The emerging artists are equally impressive and fully immersed in the show, with solos and personalities of their own: Victoria Morini and Sofia Whiteoak as Bougetta’s aloof attendants, and Reo Greenidge and Shannice Bepot as the friendly, hip-hopping janitors’ assistants.
What is distinctive about Our Mighty Groove is how Igbokwe-Ozoagu invites the audience to be both voyeur and participant. Midway through, we are encouraged to try out sequences from our seats, and at the end everyone has the chance to join the company on the dance floor. Both interventions are welcome as although the work aims to be immersive, the theatre’s capacious scale prevents us from feeling fully close to the action.
It is impressive to witness the fast, precise rotating arm gestures of waacking and the angular, sharply etched postures of voguing, whether in solo moments or in dynamic exchanges with other bodies. Yet while the dancers have distinct attributes and personalities, what matters most is how they collectively abandon themselves to the hedonism of clubbing, aided by Warren Morgan-Humphreys and Kweku Aacht’s cool soundtrack. In this way, the performers affirm the club dance floor as a utopian space: a haven for experimentation, identity formation and connection, where people can get into the groove, free from worries and cares.
Header image by Rich Lakos.