Oona Doherty's Leather Jacket: dancers delight in their hard sweaty work

Choreographer Oona Doherty, known for her striking early works "Hope Hunt" and "Hard to be Soft", presents her latest premiere "Leather Jacket" at Bold Tendencies in Peckham – a multi-storey car park turned theatre. Eight dancers in leather jackets repeatedly slap one foot heavily on the ground under bright fluorescent lights, establishing a determined rhythm.

The foot slaps evolve into thigh slaps, bounces, and eventually into Doherty's unique take on Irish step dance, as the electronic score transitions to Cormac Begley's experimental Irish folk music. The dancers shed their jackets, revealing themselves in underwear, sweating and panting from the exertion.

Doherty focuses on the collective experience of sharing rhythm and dance. The unison is precise yet retains a human quality; dancers pause to catch their breath, drink water, and laugh together. The movement itself is not particularly innovative, but serves as a vehicle to showcase effort and perseverance. There are a few wry theatrical moments – a dancer in sunglasses smoking a cigarette – and a somewhat sinister undercurrent when jackets are slapped on the floor with violent echoes. However, at a tight 45 minutes, the piece does not explore that darker mood further. It remains another unpredictable step in Doherty's singular artistic journey.