Joyful Dance with Vivaldi
“Everyone is made to forget their cares and to sing and dance By the air which is tempered with pleasure.”
Tinuke Craig directs this inventive dance piece set to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in a version by DJ Walde with more percussion and some upbeat techno style but returning at intervals to Vivaldi’s iconic theme for violins from his Four Seasons. Alexzandra Sarmiento is the choreographer who has devised the dance based on Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter with three dancers for each season dressed as Heart, Head and Gut.
Head, Heart and Gut are colour coded by designer Ryan Dawson Laight as Blue, Pink and Orange, and as Spring they wear a fantasy outfit based on a school uniform with shirt, tie and wide bottomed shorts. They are fresh, light and fun as children are, with playful jumps as if they are plants bursting into new life. The girl in blue (Beryl Tay) twirls and then dances a duet with Heart (Tanesha Aba) but Gut (Ethan Vijn) disrupts.
Ryan Dawsom Laight’s set has created abstract back drops which provide many entrance points for the ensemble cast, dressed neutrally in grey, to enter, stand watching and exit.
We are already impressed by their synchronicity, the exactness of their movement together and Spring are replaced by a more aggressive, less forgiving season of Summer. Led by Summer Gut (Michael Naylor), Summer Head (Louis Mackrodt) and Summer Heart (Emi Ichikawa), advance almost like warfare, their clothes in thematic colour but more adult. In dance they express growing pains. Vivaldi’s music has an upbeat makeover into a techno beat with all ensemble dancers on stage in turmoil. Just before the interval the Autumn dancers start to emerge.
Autumn sees the dancers more restrained, more confined as if growing into their own skin. Autumn Head (Carrie-Anne Ingrouille), Autumn Heart (Robia Brown) and Autumn Gut (Nadia Sohawon) take over but then we see all three Gut seasons together in a jerky, stilted dance to percussive music. The Autumn three dance a more stately dance. Maybe they are getting stiffer, older and less agile but the main four seasons theme returns, and they return to a more energetic dance like a second wind.
Finally we have Winter; the music starts breaking up as Winter Head (Susan Kempster) battles old age. Winter Heart is Mark Smith having lost all his hair as happens in the winter of our years. Winter Gut (Mami Tomotini) Head and Heart pose and watch the ensemble dancers. As they move the use their arms more for expression and their legs and feet less. They are definitely slowing down and support each other. Spring Body parts support their ailing Winter characters, and Heart and Gut are rejuvenated. Winter Head starts to crumple but the others hold her up, all four Heads together, then a similar scene for the Hearts and finally the gutsy Guts. This is End of Life for Head.
We were captivated by this dance life story brought to life by such wonderful dance. We hope there will be further opportunity to see such expressive and emotive dance.
Production Notes
A LIFE IN FOUR SEASONS
Choreographed by Alexzandra Sarmiento
Music by Vivaldi
Directed by Tinuke Craig
Cast
Starring:
Tanesha Aba
Kazmin Borrer
Robia Brown
Emi Ichikawa
Carrie-Anne Ingrouille
Jacqui Jameson
Susan Kempster
Louis Mackrodt
Christie Lee Manning
Michael Naylor
Laura Dawn Pyatt
Mark Smith
Nadia Sohawon
Beryl Tay
Mami Tomotan
Ethan Vijn
Creatives
Director: Tinuke Craig
Choreographer: Alexzandra Sarmiento,
Designer: Ryan Dawson Laight
Composer : DJ Walde based on Vivaldi
Lighting Designer: Zeynep Kepekli
Sound Designer: Max Pappenheim
Information
Running Time: One Hour 30 including an interval.
Booking until 14th June 2026
Theatre:
Open Air Theatre
Inner Circle
Regents Park
London NW1 4NU
Box Office: 0333 400 3562
Tube: Baker Street
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park on 12th June 2026
