Sweet Mambo Review: Pina Bausch's Dreamy Valentine at Sadler's Wells
In a captivating performance at Sadler's Wells, Tanztheater Wuppertal presents Sweet Mambo, a 2008 production by the legendary German choreographer Pina Bausch. This show, coinciding with Valentine's Day, treats the audience like lovers, weaving together seductive elegance, haunting motifs, and unexpected humor into an entrancing experience that lingers long after the curtains fall.
The Musical and Visual Symphony
Bausch's secret weapons, Matthias Burkert and Andreas Eisenschneider, curated an eclectic musical compilation that perfectly complements the production's aesthetic. From Sámi joiking and torch songs to folk, electronica, and ambient music, each track creates a mesmerizing through-line. The set design by Peter Pabst features huge, billowing white drapes, while Marion Cito's sumptuous gowns add a layer of visual luxury. This blend extends to scenes like Daphnis Kokkinos's loosey-goosey abandon to Hazmat Modine's Bahamut, harmonica and tuba in tow, as dancers are wrapped and spun in the curtains.
Dance as Emotion and Narrative
The performance opens serenely with Naomi Brito playing a golden singing bowl, drawing Andrey Berezin on stage like a moth to a flame. Bausch's lifelong themes of attraction and repulsion are explored with softer edges here, as seen in Brito's beatific solo with long, silky lines. Women's solos often carry an inner stillness, and dancers drift away in hammocks, adding to the dreamlike quality. However, harrowing episodes punctuate the show, such as Julie Shanahan's pop art poses morphing into malevolence or her struggle against implacable men in a reprised sequence. Julie Anne Stanzak's scene, dragged by her hair in a storm, blurs lines between request and cruelty, evoking a shared human mess.
Humor and Minimalist Mastery
Sweet Mambo is also one of Bausch's funniest works. Nazareth Panadero delivers eccentric aphorisms and tall tales, laughing into a plastic bag and lamenting emptiness with a water-cooler bottle. Berezin's sequence suggests a helpless plummet, mirrored in Pabst's minimalist design where gusts sculpt a diaphanous sheet, with solos performed inside or adjacent. A projected 1930s German film adds a suave distraction, but the dancers themselves are the true stars, making any external focus unnecessary.
A Unified and Swooning Night
After the interval, selected routines are replayed, risking diminishing returns, yet the work maintains a concentrated unity, less sprawling than some of Bausch's other pieces. This results in a swooningly beautiful night that feels both intimate and grand. For newcomers, it could be a coup de foudre; for long-term Wuppertal watchers, a chance to fall in love all over again. At Sadler's Wells until 21 February, this Valentine's tradition asks audiences to never forget, share problems, and help unzip a dress, creating an unforgettable connection between stage and spectator.
