We Should Have Never Walked On The Moon

As a child I was a fan of choose-your-own-adventure books. If you’re not familiar with them, the concept is simple, every few pages, you’re asked to make a choice each of which has a corresponding page number: do you fight the dragon? (turn to page 43) or do you run in the opposite direction (turn to page 72). In theory every reader or every re-reading gives a unique experience.

We Should Have Never Walked On The Moon (hereto abbreviated as WSHNWOTM!) felt very much like choosing your own adventure, with 15 live performances spread over 9 spaces and a further 11 installations or films located in another 9.  Dance powerhouses Rambert and (LA)HORDE made full use of the Southbank Centre’s sprawling 11 acres of space all of which was there to be explored and experienced at your own pace and in whatever order you chose.

The title of the show refers to a quote attributed to Gene Kelly when he met Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and in terms of scope and ambition WSHNWOTM shares that scope of ambition that led to a man walking on the moon in 1969 and it unquestionably succeeds!

In terms of the performances, these ranged from the surreal such as the title piece performed by LA(HORDE) which saw a stretch limousine parked on the terrace between the Royal Festival Hall and the Thames with a handful of performers sprawled across it reminiscent of the classic ‘touch the truck’ game where the last one touching the vehicle wins it, while another two performers walk around the car, occasionally stopping to spray graffiti on the floor, only for it to be swiftly washed away by 2 more performers on industrial floor cleaning machines. More traditional pieces could be found elsewhere, of particular note a stunning 15 minute piece by LA(HORDE) ‘Hop(e)storm’ that was performed in a more traditional setting of the Queen Elizabeth Hall stage saw the dancers flow from contemporary to swing/rock and roll and even hints of a Celtic ceilidh this was wonderfully contrasted with ‘Cultes/Baptêmes’ in which the audience were on the stage of the Royal Festival Hall watching a performance taking place in the seating stalls while the wonderful pipe organ was being played behind us.

The revolving performances of three pieces in the Clore Ballroom made perfect use of the space with hip-hop, grime and more contemporary music giving a nightclub feel to the performance and a welcome energy boost should you have felt the need for one at any point.

Whilst it could be said that some of the pieces (one or two of the films in particular) didn’t wow me, there very much felt like there was something for everyone and the ability to move between the spaces freely meant it was easy to walk away and find something you prefer.

Commissioning and staging a performance on such a scale takes courage and a huge amount of skill but here it paid off for sure, even a few bouts of heavy rainfall didn’t dim the audience or performers spirits – indeed whilst we may not have ended up singing in the rain there was certainly dancing and Gene Kelly would have been proud!