Boy Blue’s Cycles is 90 minutes of gorgeous hip hop dancing. Serene or playful, individual or collective, it’s a celebration of flow.
Led by choreographer Kenrick “H2O” Sandy and composer-producer Michael “Mikey J” Asante, Boy Blue have nurtured generations of British hip hop dancers. Their work ranges from the Olivier award-winning Pied Piper to work on Danny Boyle’s 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. Co-commissioned by the Barbican and New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Cycles focuses on the shared pleasure of dance.
It’s driven by Asante’s new score, a rich soundscape full of looping beats. Lee Curran’s lighting defines the space, creating pools of light and shadow – though I’m less keen on the spotlights raking the audience. Matthew Josephs dresses the nine dancers in loose, intricate layers of cream and khaki: sharing the same palette, they’re all individual and all in harmony.
