Boy Blue’s Cycles review: A triumphant celebration of the shared pleasures of dance

The new show from the leading British hip-hop dance company is driven by a rich soundscape full of looping beats

‘Cycles' by Boy Blue at Barbican Theatre (Camilla Greenwell)

Boy Blue’s Cycles is 90 minutes of gorgeous hip-hop dancing. Serene or playful, individual or collective, it’s a celebration of flow.

Led by choreographer Kenrick “H2O” Sandy and composer-producer Michael “Mikey J” Asante, Boy Blue have nurtured generations of British hip-hop dancers. Their work ranges from the Olivier award-winning Pied Piper to work on Danny Boyle’s 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. Co-commissioned by the Barbican and New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Cycles focuses on the shared pleasure of dance.

It’s driven by Asante’s new score, a rich soundscape full of looping beats. Lee Curran’s lighting defines the space, creating pools of light and shadow – though I’m less keen on the spotlights raking the audience. Matthew Josephs dresses the nine dancers in loose, intricate layers of cream and khaki: sharing the same palette, they’re all individual and all in harmony.