Boy Blue, Cycles Review ★★★★★

Cycles marks something of a departure for Boy Blue. Whereas the hip hop company’s highly acclaimed previous shows, such as Black, Whyte, Gray and REDD had a loose narrative basis, Cycles is primarily about the movement of hip hop in all its variety.

Over the past two decades or so Boy Blue, founded and directed by Michael 'Mikey J' Asante and Kenrick 'H20' Sandy, has done more than most to develop a UK-specific genre of street dance, bringing UK garage, grime and Caribbean music to bear upon hip hop.

The result is a high-energy show that never flags, where the extraordinary skills of the nine dancers come to the fore, be it in ensemble sections or in individual displays, a highly polished, slick show that nevertheless doesn’t engage as much as some of the previous ones, for all that you admire the talent on show.

Dressed in voluminous costumes inspired by street garb – trainers, of course, loose tracksuit bottoms, hoodies – in a stone to brown palette (costume designer Matthew Josephs in collaboration with Seeing Red), one by one the nine dancers strut towards a centre circle, their steps rhythmic and carefree, with more than a touch of swagger.

To Asante’s beat-heavy, driving music they find and greet each other as if in a casual encounter on a street corner, before launching into Kenrick and Jade Hackett’s tightly knit group choreography, hot energy flowing through loose joints, aggressive arm movements, legs bent, feet stomping.

At intervals one dancer peels off from the group to show off his or her speciality: ground-based, fast spinning breaking; popping, with its fluid robotic moves; b-boying – you name it, they do it.The occasional acrobatic corkscrew jump draws gestures of admiration: they are dancing for each other as much as for their audience.

Boy Blue, Cycles at the Barbican Theatre. Photo: Camilla Greenwell

In the middle section gun gestures typical of the genre recur; and at intervals pairs of dancers mimic the face off of krumping.

Lee Curran’s crepuscular lighting is designed around circles, as indeed is much of the choreography; but I do wish lighting designers would abandon the current propensity for shining powerful spotlights directly onto the theatre, totally blinding the audience. I can’t say I watched the finale of Cycles properly, as I was busy shielding my eyes from this most unwelcome assault. Surely stage lighting shouldn’t deliberately prevent us from seeing the performance?

Cycles is an enjoyable show that more than makes the case for hip hop as a front-line dance genre; however, in order to create such a slick theatre product, Boy Blue has jettisoned some of the rawness of the street which made their previous work so thrilling.

Age Guidance: 12+
Post-show talk
Fri 3 May, Theatre
Free to same-day ticket holders.