Sadler’s Wells, London
Tanztheater Wuppertal’s dancers treat the audience like lovers in an entrancing show of seductive elegance

Pina Bausch had a pair of secret weapons in Matthias Burkert and Andreas Eisenschneider, who jointly sought out music to match her uncanny dance-theatre and make it so indelible. In Sweet Mambo, the German choreographer’s 2008 production for Tanztheater Wuppertal, their eclectic compilation complements the seductive elegance of set designer Peter Pabst’s huge, billowing white drapes and the sumptuous gowns provided by Marion Cito.

Track by track, an entrancing through-line is found in Sámi joiking, torch song, folk, electronica and ambient music. The mix extends to the unclassifiable party sound of Hazmat Modine’s Bahamut, harmonicas and tuba boosting a late burst of loosey-goosey abandon from dancer Daphnis Kokkinos while his colleagues are wrapped and spun upside down in those curtains.