Swan Lake in the bath and a quarantine Elvis: dazzling lockdown dance

Swan Lake Bath Ballet

Choreographer Corey Baker’s Swan Lake, reimagined in the bath, is a total delight. Made for the BBC, which goes some way to explaining why its production values are so much higher than all the other Zoom dance vids out there, Baker enlisted a cast of 27 top-flight swans, performing in their bathtubs from Houston to Hong Kong, all choreographed remotely. It’s slick, tongue-in-cheek, and full of invention and clever effects, including a Busby Berkeley-style kaleidoscope of legs. But it also has intricate choreography and drama (thanks, Tchaikovsky!), not to mention some smart tiling.

Lea Anderson: Elvis Legs

One of Anderson’s most accessible works, Elvis Legs marks its 25th anniversary with a special quarantine edition. Exactly as the title says, it’s a piece made up of all the Elvis Presley dance moves the original cast could find, mixed up into a new routine. Some of the shapes scream the King, some are more surprising, but it’s all 100% Presley, and a lovely bit of intertextuality. In this lockdown version, nine stripy-shirted dancers (plus a cameo by Dylan the Cat) thrust and pose in their separate on-screen cells, which is very Jailhouse Rock. The perfect dance for the medium.

Ed Myhill: Clapping

Another existing dance adapted for the Zoom age, Clapping (originally called Why Are People Clapping?!), for National Dance Company Wales, is 10 minutes of rhythmic fun and games. It has wit, some spry moves from its four dancers and a section of choreographed handwashing that is right on trend. Performed only to the sound of the dancers’ hand claps ricocheting between their on-screen boxes, the piece was originally live-streamed from the dancers’ homes – quite the feat of co-ordination, in every sense.

Mark Morris Dance Group

A compilation of four online dances plus chat from New York choreographer Mark Morris and musical director Colin Fowler. Fowler duets with himself playing Ravel for Lonely Waltz, which Morris adapted from steps already created in the studio, transposed to the restricted spaces of the dancers’ homes – that one does feel a little like some friends prancing around their living rooms. More successful is Anger Dance, which takes a tighter focus on faces, gestures and the strengths of film. You can also see Lonely Tango, a mysterious black and white danse noir, all enigmatic looks and domestic tasks; plus feet, fingers and bottom cheeks dancing along to You Are My Sunshine.

Handbag at Home

Geraldine Pilgrim’s Handbag has been performed in theatres, parks, festivals, galleries and in a women’s prison. And now on Zoom. The concept is simple: dancers and members of the public bop around their handbags to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance. In this lockdown version, they dance alone in their lounges and bedrooms and there’s something poignant about that, but the joie de vivre of the live experience is lost on the crowded screen. You can always make your own joy by dancing along with them.

Manch UK: Meet the Artist

A deep dive into the UK’s south Asian dance scene in a series of 34 artist interviews. It’s all very DIY, filmed on phones at home, sometimes with poor sound, but there are fascinating insights, such as Aakash Odedra talking about his mentor Akram Khan, and how he was so skint when he started out that he lived on bananas and Hula Hoops. Among the personal histories there are some short, engaging performances: Divya Kasturi dancing in her living room with sparkling poise (complete with small child dashing through the corner of the video), Sonia Sabri’s sleek dance of “positive vibes”, kathak guru Pratap Pawar’s incredible facial storytelling, and some Bollywood glam from Shruti Shah.