These cats can really swing Babelle Heureuse reviewed by Jann Parry for The Observer.
The Tower of Babel was the inspiration for Babelle Heureuse, a celebration of almost every dance style under the sun. Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu from Creteil, near Paris, combine hip hop and capoeira, contortionists and ballet dancers, people and animals (on video) in shows that guarantee good humour.
A pity, then, that so many young people were locked into exams the week it was on. Dancers and musicians tell stories, spell out activity songs and swap instruments with irrepressible vitality. After the delirious finale, the audience learns the syllables of the closing song - and chants it back in tune.
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On me head, son Don’t think too much, just sit back and enjoy Montalvo-Hervieu’s wacky show, says David Dougill in The Sunday Times.
Compagnie Montalvo- Hervieu, from Créteil, Val-de-Marne, have become popular visitors to London with multicultural, multi-idiom dance and film shows that create a colourful, wacky world. The dense programme notes — very French — make heavy weather of the philosophical background to these collage spectacles: their latest show, Babelle heureuse (Happy Babel), at the Barbican last week for the Bite season, takes its title from a text by Roland Barthes. But what it boils down to in the co-choreographers José Montalvo and Dominique Hervieu’s work is a celebration of harmonious diversity — in theory.
I find it easier just to watch and enjoy. Each of these 17 dancers of various shapes, sizes and colours has a speciality. There is a man who spins furiously fast on his head, others bounce across the stage on their back, or scythe dangerously while kick boxing. A woman curls her legs over her head like a scorpion’s tail, and scratches her eyes with her toes.
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<BR><small>"A Slice of Paradise" - an apt title</small><P><BR>Just a brief word to say that this show is a joy from beginning to end and if you have any Bank Holiday blues this is a sure bet to blow them away. Don't worry about it being less than an hour in length as both the dancers and the audience would be exhausted if it went on for much longer. It's an intense, hilarious experience with some fine dancing and no one in the Queen Elizabeth Hall felt short-changed as they gave the performers a storming ovation at the end.<P>Here are the details of the remaining London performances till Tuesday April 2nd, from the <A HREF="http://www.sbc.org.uk/dance/sub_dance/performance/14775.html?version=1" TARGET=_blank><B>South Bank website</B></A>. There were some empty places on the opening night, so you should be OK if you're quick of the mark.<P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited March 31, 2002).]