Review: YFX Presents One Dance UK: Young Creatives Showcase, Lilian Baylis Studio

YFX Festival celebrates a range of youth dance work across the United Kingdom and takes place at Sadler’s Wells in Islington and at Sadler’s Wells East, Stratford. One Dance UK: Young Creatives Showcase, platformed at the beautiful Lilian Baylis Studio for dance in London, was the culmination of a two-year project for young dance makers, and it happily showed bold new creative talent.

Young Creatives is delivered by One Dance UK, who offer a two-year programme for young dance makers with an interest in developing their choreographic skills. Participants benefit by learning from industry-leading artists and participating in a year of choreographic workshops before making their own new work. This showcase elevated nine diverse new pieces of work by the latest cohort. It was evident that the continuous mentoring and input from industry professionals had empowered the nine young creatives to think deeper and make imaginative, passionate work in collaboration with the performers chosen for their piece. They have created original dance work reflecting their experience as young people and provided the audience with sixty minutes of vibrant energy, passion and skill.

The programme was carefully curated to showcase talents and blended levels of technique. All the dancers fully engaged the audience through confident and committed performances and demonstrated some exceptional ability on stage at this premiere. Featuring a range of styles including contemporary, hip hop and cultural dance, there was a glorious fusion of diversity and all body shapes moving across spaces, representing the breadth of talent across the UK. The techniques learnt were apparent during the showcase, with strong evidence of creative tools being reinterpreted by each of the nine choreographers to create their own artistic identity.

The wide-ranging work explored human connection, cultural identity, joy in harmony, self-harm and mental health, depression, ritual, imagination, romantic love, sexual abuse and trauma, relationships – especially sisterhood – and more, revealing deep layers of meaning. These themes were imaginatively presented, and by inviting an audience to feel, made dance accessible to us non-dancers, too. BSL was additionally included for any spoken moments of the showcase. 

There were duets: some composed close to or on the floor, intimate and dynamic, some using a more linear narrative and one choosing to perform spoken word with movement. Trios bought upbeat tempos, affirming their identity, or with joyful momentum as they moved effortlessly across space with speed and energy. Others executed endless rhythms of poised femininity. Two contrasting quartets were breathtaking, exquisite cultural dance, then later introduced the dynamic of weightier ritual and repetition.

Production values were upheld by industry collaboration, with slick, clearly presented slides that credited each work and its choreographer. Pre-recorded student voiceovers offered an accessible, engaging detail. 

Colours projected onto the full wall screen enhanced the mood and emotion of the dance pieces, with carefully selected palettes to evoke specific feelings, creating a more impactful experience for the audience. Side lighting provided texture and deeper visual impact. Similarly, the costume design was curated to complement the bodies and themes within each new work: dance styles performed in synthesis with casual attire, versions of traditional folk costume, sometimes lyrically representative or channelling the energy inspired by specific music genres. The Finale was an outburst of energy as all the creative cohort burst onto the stage and shared their signature moves to high-octane music and clapping. They were joined by the nine choreographers who danced with them, and I left feeling happy and reignited by this joyful collective movement of future young talent. One of the pieces was called Fortanach, which I discovered is Gaelic for ‘lucky’, and I wish that for them. 

The YFX 2025 festival runs across Sadler’s Wells until Thursday 24 July