We wrap up with “Playlist (EP),” another virtuoso-styled offering, this one doled out to pop and dance tracks—part of Forsythe’s more recent foray into the celebratory, approachable side of ballet. It’s been in the ENB rep for seven years now, and the company looks very at home with its pumping rhythms and slinky choreography, now reworked to incorporate new music, including Khalid’s “Location,” the soundtrack to a tango-esque duet. There are frisky pirouettes, pinwheeling promenades, sassy dance battles, all played out with coy eyes on the audience, the dancers taking pleasure in their own pageantry and willing us to do the same. It’s thoroughly winsome.
If I have one grumble, it’s that the earliest version of “Playlist” was created for the men of the cast and the current incarnation still feels like it belongs to them; the centrepiece and undisputable climax is an all-male number to Lion Babe’s “Impossible,” dedicated to vaunting their flair, which they handle like pros (living up, fittingly, to the jerseys sporting their names on the backs). The women are less self-possessed in their own sections—composed to be sure, but struggling to break away from perky perfection and ease into the swagger. In any case, the dextrous step combos are a joy from start to finish, especially Precious Adam’s breakneck switch leaps into Junor Souza’s arms.
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