People get very cross about Jérôme Bel. The culty French choreographer creates gently humorous movement rambles without plot or narrative, sets or costumes, and often without recognisable dance. Swan Lake it ain't.
This sort of experimental dance infuriates those who lap it up in other art forms, even though they are often the first to moan about dance being stuck in its ways.
Get a grip. Experiment does exist, it matters, and Bel is a dab hand. Few who've seen The Show Must Go On will disagree. It is, admittedly, one of his more sweetly funny pieces, with 18 performers revealing how susceptible we are to soppy songs.
Sexual Healing, The Sound of Silence and Killing Me Softly catch us every time. Even Ballerina Girl, probably the silliest song ever sung, triggers our empathy when Bel's women waft and wobble. They look nothing like ballerinas, but we know their longing.
Bel does more than show how we enact lyrics, and use them to narrate our lives. He also shows that how we move and what moves us are one and the same thing. One example is Killing Me Softly, when his dancers ever-so-slowly sink to the floor, killed by the song.
This is half a spoof, and Bel features plenty. The best is the dire Titanic theme tune with the performances recreating the prow scene as - oh joy! - the stage sinks and they disappear.
The enthusiastic audience were up and dancing, although I suspect more plants than a garden centre (punters are rarely this good-looking). Either way, Bel's sly show is unmissable, as is all of his two-week retrospective at Sadler's Wells.
Retrospective until 16 February. Information: 0844 412 4300, www.sadlerswells.com.
Jérôme Bel
Sadler's Wells
Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN
