Review: Tentacle Tribe: PRISM, Sadlers Wells East ****1/2

In Tentacle Tribe’s Prism, presented by Breakin’ Convention, currently playing at Sadler’s Wells East, five dancers turn light, colour, and motion into a mesmerising language of movement. The choreographers, Emmanuelle Lê Phan and Elon Höglund first met in Cirque du Soleil almost two decades ago and have shaped this shared dance language over years of collaboration. Alongside their three long-time company members, together now for nearly eight years, Tentacle Tribe is a tight ensemble that moves with seamless trust.

Each dancer wears a single bold primary hue, creating a living prism on stage. The dancers move under, over and around each other in levels and layers – kneeling, rolling, spiralling, rising – with every gesture meticulously considered. Weight, breath, and pause are choreographed as deliberately as steps. Drawing on their roots in breakdance, hip hop, street, and contemporary movement, the performers balance precision with a sense of improvisational pulse.

The effect is collective and organic: like anemones breathing under the sea, treetops swaying in the breeze, a school of fish gliding in formation, or the pulse of a beehive. Patterns emerge, dissolve, and reform in rhythmic repetition. Each formation feels fresh, natural and unpredictable, as if no two instants repeat exactly and one cannot fully track all that has passed or foresee what comes next. The original music (also Elon Höglund) is textural and percussive, with atmospheric tones that deepen the hypnotic (and sometimes underwater) sensation.

Enhancing the experience, the stage gleams with five towering aluminium mirrors that pivot and sway on hidden springs and one on the floor. At times, the reflections from these mirrors multiply the performers so completely that the audience feels they are watching twenty-five bodies in motion, rather than five. The mirrors also allow a simultaneous view of the dancers’ formations from many different angles and mean every member of the audience has a subtly different experience, depending where in the auditorium they are sitting.

There is no traditional narrative, only the hypnotic interplay of reflection and colour. It is not a story but an experience – shimmering, meditative, and compelling.

[Thank you to Sadler’s Wells who provided a gifted ticket in exchange for an honest review.]