The dancers in Wayne McGregor’s Deepstaria are captivating creatures, miraculous in their facility for movement. Their figures evolve in front of us, lines melting into curves, convex convulsing into concave. In beguiling, often quite balletic dance, you marvel at the absolute clarity of their forms – bodies revealed in minimal black underwear or translucent organza that appears to float.
Floating is a thing. The title Deepstaria refers to a type of jellyfish, and there’s a sense of rippling through the weight of deep water. The show’s other USP is that the set is made with Vantablack, a super-black coating that absorbs 99.9% of light (normally used in telescopes and space technology). A large black square, a void, is at the centre of the stage. But rather than an all-enveloping darkness, there is a haze and streaks of milky light (and at one point a very cool lighting effect like a giant rain shower).
