Dystopian Dream, Sadler’s Wells, London — dance theatre taken to another level.

Two dancers and a singer explore the themes of destiny, loss, mortality and surrender of Nitin Sawhney’s 2015 album.

Making its UK debut at Sadler’s Wells after a European tour, Dystopian Dream is a conceptual interpretation of Nitin Sawhney’s 2015 album of the same name that brings together some of the most progressive talents in dance, music and design. A bucket, an upturned chair, a slope and a staircase — leading where? — set the stage on which two dancers and a singer explore the album’s themes of destiny, loss, mortality and surrender. These are questions both personal and existential: “where are we going?”, “what does the future hold?”. Sawhney’s music, with its roots in Asian Underground, is at times contemplative and spiritual, at others extrovert, urban and pulsing. It’s a tall order to create choreography that captures all of this, but Wang Ramirez — real-life partners Sébastien Ramirez and Honji Wang — have the talent and vision in spades. With their individual specialities in hip-hop, aerial movement and martial arts, for Dystopian Dream they have created a unique dance language that is totally compelling, exciting and surprising. Watching these two performers at the top of their game is a pleasure. Ramirez is the gravity-defier who spins on his back, sidesteps and leaps like a French parkour artist.

He is playful, striding heel-first in trainers, and super-light on his feet, seeming to hang in the air at an impossible angle. Wang, meanwhile, is low-centred with legs in a deep plié, powerful and ready to pounce. She hits her martial arts-inspired shapes at rapid-fire speed, with precise head movements and fluttering fingers that combine grace and energy. Shizuka Hariu's set and the technical effects are top-notch The show seamlessly follows all 15 tracks on the album, and in this minimalist yet mobile setting, the protagonists — who could be humans or spirits — go through a series of encounters, orchestrated and watched over by the singer. There is a Pandora’s box — containing we know not what — passed between them like a symbol of the future. They scrabble up the slope, hang under a table, creep up the stairs and take to the air in delightful flying sequences that place the movement in multiple planes.

Absurdist, sinister moments — Ramirez appears first in a tall black hood and dances blind — are counterpointed with dreamlike projections of white clouds and the sound of falling rain. There are echoes of past dramatists and choreographers such as Jean Genet or Maurice Béjart, but the effect is utterly contemporary. The mixture of live and recorded music mirrors these dimensions, from tinny radio sounds to rich strings, and singer Eva Stone has a pure, beguiling tone. The design team, including Shizuka Hariu (set) and Hussein Chalayan (costumes) have achieved something that’s both cutting-edge and timeless, and the technical effects are absolutely top-notch. Thousands of hours of creative thought and work have gone into this production, making a collaborative masterpiece that takes dance theatre to another level.

★★★★★