Scottish Ballet: Emergence review, riveting visions of gods and insects

Theatre Royal, Glasgow The premiere of Julia Cheng’s Entress and a bold return for Crystal Pite’s Emergence both explore collective power

I t is a significant moment for a choreographer to create work for a large ballet company for the first time. This is the thread that joins these two Scottish Ballet performances: the world premiere of Entress by Julia Cheng and a restaging of Crystal Pite’s Emergence, choreographed for the National Ballet of Canada in 2009 and first performed by Scottish Ballet at the Edinburgh international festival in 2016 .

Coming from a varied dance background that includes hip-hop and waacking , Cheng received Olivier nominations for her choreography for Cabaret and Fiddler on the Roof. She brings an assured patience to the myth-like Entress (from an old Scottish word meaning “right to enter”); scenes exploring groupthink, purging and transformation are allowed time to develop.

Yann Seabra’s smartly designed set comprises a scratched black floor that rises halfway up the stage and a floating white sheet that hangs from the ceiling, a soft, open chrysalis. Nüwa (Rishan Benjamin), the Chinese goddess who created humanity, hovers aloft on the raised platform edge, distant from the darkly clad, crouched ensemble.

Standing alone is the nameless protagonist, the compellingly emotive Kayla-Maree Tarantolo. A pariah figure, she pulses and rebels against her group, who fly past and through her in scenes of increasing strain. Cheng is less focused on the dancers’ technique (though it’s there in nimble partnering and complex hand-patterns), and more on the sensorial force their collective impression makes.

Under a capacious score by Isobel Waller-Bridge, flitting between tinkling keys and brooding strings, percussionist Beibei Wang brings momentum and palpable sonic texture. There’s a visual simplicity to the overall arc of Entress, even if the specific events of the story are sometimes hazy. Nonetheless, it’s an absorbing vision from Cheng.

Seeing the dancers for Emergence creep through a large black eyelet at the back of the stage is a rare instance when a contemporary dance viewer can get genuinely giddy. Pite’s ability to craft physical complexity without losing thematic substance is unmatched.

In this scuttling, twitching ballet, we see a mostly segregated hive; the female dancers dominate on their pointe shoes, whispering counts as their wooden blocks deliberately pound the dancefloor, adding to the cacophony of insect-like sounds in Owen Belton’s score. The men, each with black ink traced down their arms, hunch down then fearlessly slide across the floor in elastic contortions. There’s an order here, a frenzied, alien, and deathly beautiful order, but its complex machinations gleefully resist easy interpretation. It’s a bold entry from near the beginning of this choreographer’s astounding oeuvre.