FringeReview UK 2024
Where we meet
Unwired Dance Theatre
Genre: Dance, Dance and Movement Theatre, Digital
Venue: Theatre Deli
Festival: FringeReview UK
Low Down
Have you ever wondered what is going on in the head of the person opposite? Would you love to hear other people’s inner thoughts? Then this is the perfect show for you.
Review
Clemence Debaig, the artistic director, is greeting us in the studio space. She explains how we use the respective tech we have been given. I am a seated participant and therefore I am assigned the role of spectator. My introduction is different from those who are active participants, but we are all given headphones. I also get a tablet with three circles and a yellow dot. Once the show starts, I can move the yellow dot in the various circles and so access the inner monologue the dancers have. The headphones, which the active participants get have a tiny black crown on their top. It looks quite cute. They also have a pouch with a small android device hanging around their neck, which contains a lot of clever tech, but which the participants won’t need to access. In effect once they have set their volume to a comfortable level, they can forget the gear and move freely in the space.
At the start of the show we are guided through a mini meditation that invites us to close our eyes. When we are asked to open them again, feeling now calm and relaxed, the three dancers have joined us. They stand in a light ring on the floor. Over the course of the performance it will wiggle and squiggle around as if it was a giant jellyfish. Each dancer also has their own spotlight. The audience stands in the dark.
I move my yellow dot to the dancer closest to me. The dancer is a young woman who wears glitter slacks with a blueish shiny top and a silvery thin wind jacket. (It is Livia Massarelli who is also co-director and choreographer) She looks as if she is dressed for a night on a club’s dance floor. Her dance is energetic. Every of her strong movements creates a different light effect with her glitter trousers reflecting the spotlight in many directions. Her shimmering top glistens like a glacier in the sunrise. Her dance style is contemporary. There are big, bold movements. Her arms fly in the air, she kicks her legs, she bends over and rolls on the floor. I am amazed at her energy. She does occasionally slow down, but not very often. She comes across as confident and outgoing and people are drawn to her. I listen to her inner monologue and learn that maybe not everything is as it seems.
I move my yellow dot to the ring around the next dancer. A young man (Ryan Naiken) in a smart-casual suit that appears to have a light blue hue. The sort of suit men wear, who work in the media. With it he wears a black button down shirt. No tie is required, but one still needs to looks smart. He has bleached his hair and it looks good. I wonder what shoes he would be wearing if he was wearing any. He is a dancer after all and like his two colleagues, he is only wearing socks. His dance style is completely different from the previous dancer’s. His moves incorporate a lot of break dance moves, some quite energetic. The contrast is stark, but not distracting or off-putting. Each dancer is an individual, who tells their story. While the first dancer’s movement have a downward and rising feel, this dancer’s direction feels like the opposite. It feels conquering from the middle down. His inner monologue is surprising.
I feel I have neglected the dancer furthest away from me and move my yellow dot into her circle. From the corner of my eye I have caught her slightly pinkish sweater and small body focused movements. She (Virginia Moroni) has spent some time on the floor. There is an intensity in what she does, that makes the moves look much bigger than they actually are. There are times you feel she is ignoring the people that gather around her to watch. She is in her own world. I was shocked when I listened to her inner monologue.
The texts, written by Emma Nuttall were inspired by conversations and information gathered from lived experience. This comes across. There are some very personal passages that makes one really ponder on how we perceive the people around us. How often do we stop and think whether our interpretation of the a person we have encountered is their true self. As a neurodiverse person I have the tendency to take things at face value and live in the here and now. It was a curious experience to listen in to what people think about themselves.
As a reviewer I couldn’t participate and only watch from the sidelines. I got quite jealous when the dancers encouraged their spectators to join in with their movements and they were all performing together. Each dancer had a different repertoire for this. I highly recommend to get a participant ticket when seeing the show if you are able to stand and walkabout for about half an hour. I think it makes for a better experience. I hope I can go back for one of the next performances and I will certainly be a participant.
I would highly recommend to read the blog on Unwired Dance Theatre’s webpage that explains all the technical feats this company had to achieve to create this work. I am not a geek, but I am interested and I found it highly informative. It explains why participants get a little crown on their headphones (they are actually tracker devices) and how involved the tech actually is.
Whilst reading it I was reminded of the insulting ‘Fatima the ballet dancer’ ads the last Government ran about retaining in cyber. Here high tech and coding skills meet not only the arts, but also dance. There are actually a lot of artists who already work in cyber, simple because the arts are underfunded and cyber offers flexible working that artist can fit around producing high quality work.
