Review: Body & Soul
An English National Ballet production @ Sadler's Wells until March 28th 2026
Directors: Crystal Pite & Kameron N. Saunders
Cast: Performers from the English National Ballet
I possess neither the knowledge nor the technical vocabulary to properly review ballet but when has ignorance ever been a barrier to commentary? I confess I can count the total number of ballets I’ve seen on my two hands but I admire it greatly, even though I think Timothee Chalamet’s (admittedly very poorly expressed) opinion on it possesses more than a ring of truth. There’s no doubt that the formal control and physical prowess required to be able to perform in such a gruelling and complicated artform is just extraordinary, and the ability to tell stories through mere music and dance alone is one that I find compelling and baffling.
Body & Soul, which comprises two distinct pieces - Body and Soul (Part 1) and Proper Conduct - that are linked by ideas and themes of conformity, freedom and love, is spellbinding and rich with emotion. The first, and better, of the two pieces explores love, loss and conflict and is accompanied by an echoey narration in French that appears to “direct” the dancers’ movements. Light and its absence are used to attract and repel the performers like magnets, as though their movements and stories are guided by inevitability. A sequence in which the ensemble mimics waves crashing into a shore is uniquely captivating, and the piece buzzes with an evocative beauty.
Proper Conduct is a little blunter in its messaging, with the narration doing too much of the work and detracting from the poeticism of the dance, though it’s still impressive and, at times, riveting. In this piece, an unspecific race of beings, dressed in futuristic, possibly alien, white suits, rails against the “rot” of human sexuality and freedom, prioritising a drab conformity which is symbolised by the slow transformation of the stage into a blank white box. The dancers, likewise, transform, their colourful outfits and individualistic movements replaced by a homogeny of costume and choreography, until all that remains is a white void.
Both of these works are gorgeous in their own ways, and Body and Soul (Part 1) in particular feels like a real statement of intent from Crystal Pite. Proper Conduct is less poignant but is still a work of real talent and skill, and though, as already stated, I am far from an authority on ballet, I do think that these two shows are two of the best I’ve seen and are well worth a look if you get the chance, and particularly if you are a ballet virgin looking to experience what it’s all about for the first time.
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐