Schachmatt:

Choreography by Cayetano Soto

Twice-Born:

Direction, Concept & Choreography by Dickson Mbi
Original Music by Dickson Mbi

A double bill of premieres from Scottish Ballet awaits audiences this evening, with a threaded intention to explore renewed grounds and creative ingenuity from a new generation: a rebirth (of sorts) from the company which maintains the expectation of quality but broadens the scope with which it works and accomplishments.

There’s flourish to Cayetano Soto’s chess-board inspired Schachmatt (translated to Checkmate) that receives a UK premiere at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow this evening. Compact, it’s the more accessible of the two performances this evening – one which continues to break new ground for audiences and performers since its inception, channelled by Scottish Ballet with the mood and communication of movement as readily as it impresses with technique. 

The stage is a vast and polished black and white board, and choreographer Cayetano Soto’s design takes the titular translation directly to a physical fruition. Frenzied, orchestrated not unlike a grandmaster’s game where every move has purpose and weight, Schachmatt plumbs into a more risqué and joyful sense of humour while ensuring a technical meticulousness which follows the flow and precision of the game, entertainingly acknowledging the necessity to remove oneself from the situational and re-evaluate the moves, technique, and flow of what they’ve just witnessed. 

A reverberating silence emanates over the audience following a brief intermission as several boulders and rocks steadily rise into the air – the once polished chessboard replaced by an imposing mountain structure, where the giddy joy of horseriding-helmeted jockeys from Schachmatt celebrates the medium with a playful fervour, Twice-Born shudders the foundations of what audiences think they understand and contorts them into a militaristic-arcane showcase of physical synchronicity and intensity. 

From the onset, the mood is thick and catastrophic. Something is waiting above – ready to destroy. But in the ash and the soil, a rebirth is coming. The lengths to which women, particularly maternal figures, will go to maintain order amidst the rippling chaos. It leads to a series of ensemble pieces, thundering and heavy in their movements from the likes of Xolisweh Richards and Alica Kawalek. Evolving into powerful duets which channel a communal earthen tone and the fiery intensity of the rumbling thunder above, as Jessica Jung Han Yun’s lighting cascades onto the set below.

Concept creator and choreographer Dickson Mbi allow themselves the freedom to push the boundaries of space, elevating the rocks pulsating with an ethereal glow and reviving the mother (Marge Hendrick) lifting them above the sturdy foundations and pounding beat beneath. It’s a striking occurrence of balance and silence which channels a sense of momentary order amidst the strewn rocks and husks. The wire-work is exceptionally tight, elevated tremendously by the building rhythm of Mbi’s original score, once which strikes a steady and imposing beat – yet oddly comforting in its heart-like rhythm as Hendrick and Rishan Benjamin channel this mystical adoration and respect for the land, for the tribulations of womanhood, into a story which may be as old as time, but ripples with ingenuity.

Rich with chants, echoes, and an appreciation for the mysticism of the entire performance, Mbi channels this with the same passion as their choreography, which is enriched by their previous body-popping experience. The continuous building crescendos of storytelling, composition and movement begin to thread into one another. And while the collective breath the audience takes at the start of this impressive endeavour persists, the structure of the overall arc begins to lose steam. 

Scottish Ballet continues to lead the way with its connection to audiences and the world of dance and will always excel at this. Looking to double down on its Five in Five campaign, which saw the company commission and create five new pieces in five years to celebrate its 50th anniversary, beginning with The Crucible and concluding in 2025 – the company looks to their Next Generation. This is a campaign to present (at least) ten new works from ten house-associated creatives. So with another five years of ten creatives ahead, the Twice-Born double-bill marks a rejuvenation of the artform: breaking new grounds of communicative movement, storytelling, and producers – while ensuring the bedrock talents of the troupe remain stable.