Cycles

Boy Blue: Michael Asante, Kenrick Sandy

Barbican, London and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Aviva Studios, Manchester

March 21-22, 2025; 90 mins

Cycles is performed by Boy Blue dance troupe under the direction of artistic team Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante, Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy and Jade Hackett. It brings the sounds, movement and dynamic of hip hop to the theatre. Loud and proud.

The nine dancers move synchronously, which makes it hard for a reviewer to single one out – but in fact the astonishing patterns the group makes from the individual skills of the dancers is part of the special nature of the show. They come together; they separate, they harmonise with each other in fascinating ways. At one moment they are like Rodin’s Burghers of Calais, but with music; the next they are a street gang fraught with potential violence – which brings you to the underlying, masculine tension in the dance and the music.

There is a feminine influence, but this is displayed in a Margaret Thatcher way: I’m more man than you. Andrew Tate would probably have loved the performance, and the music.

In my youth I would probably have wanted to listen to loud electronic music with enhanced bass for 70 minutes. Now it’s single-digit minutes. There is no room in the piece for quiet contemplation – not that hip hop would want to stand still and think. The action is always full-on.

Factory International’s Aviva theatre is a great place to watch a piece like this; comfortable, huge and full of people who like their music strong and loud. A neighbouring audience member, a director of a dance troupe put it well: “great action, but I like a bit of storytelling…”

More info and tickets here