GöteborgsOperans Danskompani

In Swedish contemporary dance company GöteborgsOperans Danskompani’s first visit to Sadler’s Wells, the company brings two UK premieres choreographed by Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, with designs by his regular collaborator, the sculptor Antony Gormley.

In Icon, three-and-a-half-tonnes of clay are molded, heaped and shaped by 18 dancers, drawn from both GöteborgsOperans Danskompani and Cherkaoui’s own company, Eastman.

Coating themselves and each other, they perform in the ritualistic creation, destruction and ultimate replacement of their graven idol to the sound of traditional songs from the Amami Islands, French ballads and medieval compositions.