7 Deadly Sins

The seven deadly sins have been portrayed in ballet form for many years, the first when George Balanchine created a ballet to music by Kurt Weill with text by Bertolt Brecht (their final collaboration), in 1933. Kenneth MacMillan put his stamp on it in 1961, and later Pina Bausch in 1976, so it’s no surprise Natalie Weir visits the subject for Expressions Dance Company in her latest work.

Weir’s style, which is steeped in the tradition of Martha Graham, is a choreographer who excels in the physical and angular and 7 Deadly Sins in no exception. ‘Man’ is tempted by the seven sins of envy, lust, pride, greed, sloth, gluttony and wrath, rejects them all, but ultimately accepts them as being part of his whole.

This scenario is played out on a set designed by Bill Haycock and inspired by Italian renaissance painter Giotto de Bondone using a series of boxes of different shapes and sizes from which emerge the dancers, sometimes from a foetal position, portraying the various sins. Dressed in extravagant gold and black costumes reminiscent of Game of Thrones, they quickly shed their outer garments to reveal a physical portrayal of each sin in solos and duos.

Collaborators in Weir’s vision are also David Waters who has provided a striking and articulate lighting design, and composer Darren Verhagen whose soundscape verges on the brilliant. Urban sounds and industrial percussion interlace with solo violin and piano, with at times a tribal feel and a hint of didgeridoo, and culminate in a plaintive piano solo of great beauty. It aurally overwhelmed with its range and dynamic.

Guest artist Thomas Gundry Greenfield as the ‘Man’ was a compelling anchor and a powerful presence throughout especially in his final solo. You could almost smell the pig-swill in Jack Ziesling’s overindulgent Gluttony, whilst Elise May’s Lust shimmered with erotic desire. EDC veteran Daryl Brandwood also impressed with his flamboyant Greed, and provided one of the ballet’s most spectacular pairings with Benjamin Chapman as Pride.

Not all of the sins were clearly delineated which at times meant there were passages where the intent was obscure and diffuse. Although 7 Deadly Sins does not engage like its predecessors, The Red Shoes and The Host, the level of EDC’s execution was exemplary.

Peter Pinne

Images: (top) L-R Elise May, Thomas Gundry Greenfield and Michelle Barnett, & (lower) Daryl Brandwood (top) and Benjamin Chapman (bottom). Photos by Chris Herzfeld.