Tom de Grunwald

Tonight London was sparkling as we walked back from Euston to Charing Cross. A friend had invited me to Robin Dingemans‘ latest dance piece, “Me + You = 5″ at The Place, and earlier, as I took my seat, the lights had fallen to an empty stage. A single balloon wandered on, dancing to it’s own breeze-inspired rhythm. The seconds passed and another balloon joined it. Then there were three, four and so on until thirty dancing balloons filled the stage. I seriously wondered if people would figure in this piece at all, so well did they assert their presence. The screen read “We are here - Because - We are here - Because..”

As the lights came up, what seemed to be a single person with two heads was revealed, lying, in the centre of the stage. Slowly the figure shifted about, and the two performers comprising it moved themselves around each other in incredible intimacy and understanding, like living clay being moulded. This was the beginning of an epic, uninterrupted hour long and hugely energetic piece which very beautifully and humanely described the cycle of relationships; from an initial touch of magic (the balloons) through a honeymoon period (inseparability), and later stages of strife, deeper understanding - to the very end of human lives.

It was intensely moving to see these two performers and choreographers, Joanne Fong and Robin himself, mine their personal experience for the benefit of the audience in such a visceral, accomplished and, above all, inventive way. Woman and Man were represented here in their strength and weakness, vitality and insecurity, against one of the great human narratives. This was dance assimilating theatre, using set, props, music and live sound, text, lyrics, video, and voice to great effect, entwining physical metaphors in a multimedia collaboration which went beyond my previous experience of the potential of the medium of dance. This was Dance as Opera, an immersive and complete work which moved me deeply.

Had I spoken for longer with the director, I would love to have asked if he had a position on the potential for humans to know each other or to love. To my mind, the latter half of the piece portrayed a vision of a compromised domesticity, in which the protagonists fail to move beyond their fractious problems into true, mature relationship; where individuality is nurtured and where human weakness can be acknowledged and accepted - but not allowed to define togetherness as somehow alienated.

Did you see the piece? What did you make of it? And which were your favorite moments?

Photo courtesy of AdelaideAsleep

Tags: Dance, Dingemans, Fong, Contemporary