Review: Memory Keepers, Sadler’s Wells

Memory Keepers, a new work choreographed by Kristina and Sadé Alleyne of Alleyne Dance, presents a survey of dance as wide-ranging as memory itself – fragmented, layered and capable of holding multitudes. Danced at Sadler’s Wells by the thirty-one members of England’s flagship youth dance organisation, the National Youth Dance Company, Memory Keepers showcases a commitment and cohesion that belies the dancers’ age. The company moves with the maturity and discipline of established professionals, executing complex unison sections and intricate ensemble work with a shared intuition.

The piece begins with a single beam of light illuminating a pale shirt set onstage. A performer enters what feels like a fragmented dream, reminiscing of ‘mum’s bed’ and ‘shea butter’ over a breathy soundscape. These utterances are interrupted by tremors that domino through their body like a cascade of tiny earthquakes. Then, a tableau of bodies emerges. Like a slow-rolling tank, a mass of dancers grab and pull each other’s limbs as they move from stage right to left, sweeping away the soloist into the collective.

These tableaux are a recurring structural device in the piece. Alleyne Dance systematically floods the stage with bodies, then wipes it clean to leave behind a solo, duet or trio in the aftermath. Small moments of intrigue emerge from the visual density, such as a lone dancer tapping the projection screen, the lights wavering – it feels like a ‘Where’s Wally?’ page in motion. Memory Keepers maintains this pattern consistently and the repetition becomes somewhat predictable, though not unpleasant.

Where the choreography most excels is in transitions. A wall of bodies retreats – arm-in-arm with backs to the audience – then absorbs individuals into the group. A canon of movement creates a seesaw effect of limbs rocking and swinging in rippling succession. Performers swarm together like magnetised bees, covering a soloist with raised palms. The image resembles a human-sized pincushion. These visual shifts are a choreographic signature – instances where the company’s cohesion transforms ensemble movement into a hive mind.

Alleyne Dance also crafts standout sections for individual performers that demonstrate the work’s wide-ranging vocabulary. A flautist plays live while walking through a forest of bodies. A dancer scoots along the floor while beating a held drum, integrating live percussion into the score itself. One particularly impressive solo features grounded, percussive isolations and a sudden drop into a split, the dancer’s torso popping and reverberating with precise power. Movement is physically transferred between performers – caught, grabbed, passed off. It reads as the transmission of an important message, a memory passed hand to hand before it dissipates.

Sound design by Giuliano Modarelli and Sade Alleyne floats smoothly between genres – recorded voices, classical, breakbeats, techno, tinkling piano – creating a symbiotic relationship with the choreographic shifts. The music amplifies the work’s more dramatic moments: rocking back arches and flying dive rolls that showcase exhilarating risk and verve.

Memory Keepers is ambitious in scope and impressive in execution. The Alleynes have created a work that honours both the breadth of dance as a form and the specific magic of thirty-one young dancers moving as one. While the work’s structural rhythm becomes predictable, the dancers’ collective sensitivity shines. Memory, like dance, is something to carry together.

Guest Artistic Directors and Choreographers Kristina and Sadé Alleyne
Composer Giuliano Mordarelli
Music Design Sadé Alleyne
Lighting Design Salvatore Scollo
Costume Design Ryan Dawson Laight
Stage Design Emanuele Salamanca
Dramaturge Dr Fiona Graham
Rehearsal Directors Iro Konti, Robert Dunkley-Giyamah
Costume Makers Jordan Edwards, Kate Healy, Andy Roberts, Julie Sayers and Katie Vacara
Wardrobe Assistant Joshua Cartmell
Producers Christopher Haddow and Bia Oliveira
Production Manager Adam Carrée
Touring Production Manager & Relighter/ LX Programmer Matt Carnazza
Head of Sound Zak Nicholls

Memory Keepers has completed its performances at Sadler’s Wells. It tours the UK until 23 July, including a night at Sadler’s Wells East on Saturday 18 July.