Thanks to the London International Festival of Theatre, we have a varied range of creatives from across the globe. I'm new to the fest, but a dance piece by Nadia Beugré proved enticing.
As the show was gearing up to begin, audience members were yanked out of their seats to join in the communal spirit of the whole thing. I wouldn't say this gelled with the mood of the rest of the evening. I can only assume this pumped up the dancers to get nude for most of the work, then began to strip as the frenzy was reaching its end. The entire set of five dancers are naked, diverse bodies mostly unafraid to show frequently bare bottoms. This is Pride month after all and I was taken aback by the unrelenting homoerotic nature of it all. This was pride indeed.
At times, this felt more akin to performance art than dance proper. White sheets are used in several effective passages, though a slump in the middle tested the patient's sort. Twerking, African rituals and drag ballroom all feature in a dizzyness and sometimes shocking curdelling. A hymn in what I assume was Herbrew, had an astounding weight to it with the current situation and I found myself on the brink of big time tears. As this is done the dancers flip upside down, with their weight resting on their heads, holy moments made more evocative due to the sheets.
As a whole, I don't think this quite meshed as well as it should have. I picked moments I loved, the convey of bodies connected by pulling their ears was a beautiful site and the vast shaman made up of these now famous sheets added greatly to the thumping finale. Touch is a huge idea in the show and the guys really get to show this. The lighting worked well, complementing the various skin tones of these exposed forms, though didn't feel like it changed a huge amount. With moments that felt like a gay sauna or dance hall, the variety seen here is absurd, almost overwhelming. The mood from the audience was mixed, with a noted standing ovation from a fair amount as well.
It runs till 13 June.
Review: James Ellis