Boris Charmatz, Infini/Somnole, Sadler's Wells

Boris Charmatz is in many ways a provocateur and his work is not for everybody. Here's why:

However, should you choose to persevere and allow yourself to be challenged, you'll find much to hold your attention in Boris Charmatz's work.

The 49-year-old French choreographer, dancer and director is on mission to transcend traditional theatre frameworks. For him, the stage is but a crucible at which you throw a number of things, and indeed people, and stand back to observe the reactions and tensions thus engendered.

The resulting work often seems chaotic, but there's method to the madness. So, in [terrain] – Infini Charmatz deconstructs the act of counting, which underlines all movements of classical dance. Instead of the standard sets of four, six or eight, in Infini he seeks the infinity of numbers. His performers count even as they move: forwards and backwards, alone or in unison, keeping the beat or simply standing.

In other words, Infini explores the relationship between the finite nature of the body and the infinite nature of numbers. The performance takes place in a radically adapted Sadler's Wells auditorium where an audience of just 400 will be arranged around a central stage.

[terrain] – SOMNOLE is a solo to be performed by Charmatz himself in Sadler's Wells smaller Lilian Baylis Studio. A minimalist work, it explores the nature of feeling on the brink of sleep.

SOMNOLE is accompanied only by the sheer sound of whistling, the relationship between the sound and the movement in turn deliberate, halting, sleepy and acute.

Boris Charmatz performances in London are part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.

Read our interview with Van Cleef & Arpels here.

Boris Charmatz will be in conversation with Sadler’s Wells artistic director Alistair Spalding and Van Cleef & Arpels’ Dance and Cultural Program Manager Serge Laurent after the Wednesday 23 March performance. Free to same performance ticketholders. BSL interpreted.