Review: Footnote Dance’s IYKYK
Photo by Caio Silva
Hannah Playhouse, Friday 21st July
ADVANCE TO GO- Holly Newsome
We enter the ‘black box’ theatre of Hannah playhouse, the stage plunged in darkness, a bright doorway at the top of the set providing the only light. The dancers descend the staircase, with slow, backward crawls, perfectly spaced and moving in time with the music, the image is reminiscent of Escher’s ‘Relativity’, a staircase with figures on which the rules of gravity do not apply and the circuit continues for infinity. Infinity and laws of physics seem to be at variance in this piece as it explores the constant tussle between the human and the automated world. Video game gestures are referenced by the dancers as they move in automatic unison, spectacularly portrayed by Emma Cosgrave and Veronica ChengEn Lyu (吕承蒽). The duo seamlessly roll over each other and move with seeming mechanization- jerkily avoiding eye-contact while seeming to ‘text’ and ‘swipe’ on device. Newsome’s preface to the piece in the program is: Life is simple if you know the rules. After all, it’s just a game. The conceptual angle of the work seems to combine game theory and the AI era, where we question who or what has autonomy, as we’ve historically understood it. The dancers appear to be both pawns and agents of technology at various points in the performance. Their mimicry of automaton is highly skilled and pin sharp.
There are frequent moments of connection, and moments of separation; the piece simmers with tension between the two. The lighting design, by Elekis Poblete Teirney is a stark white neon cube, surrounded by pitch black background. The dancers weave and swirl between these neon strips, their faces, hands and feet illuminated, their black sports clothes having an effect reminiscent of mime.
Newsome’s choreography seems to explore the theme of illusion and artifice as the dancers’ bodies seem involuntarily controlled by a powerful unseen force, embodied by perfect syncopation to the soundtrack.
PREMONITION- Forest Kapo
During the twenty-minute interval a large stop-clock starts on the wall. In a sense, it indicates that the piece has already begun, anticipation builds as the glowing red numerals of the clock tick over.
The dancers enter in loose, calico-like street wear, as they collide and separate with oozy floor work and turns. The score is a conversation between several people reflecting on the digital realm, feelings of dislocation and loneliness as well as unrealistic closeness. The voice over is mumbling in parts, crystal clear in others, mentioning ‘swiping’ and ápps’.
The solos performed by Cecilia Wilcox and Airu Matsuda stand out from the longer segments of group dancing. Touching, real, we zero into their embodied conversations with their identity, their relationship between closeness and isolation. There is a lyricism and flowing beauty to the movements that contrasts with the jerkiness of Newsome’s piece. These two pieces however seem to be in close conversation on the theme of human connection and isolation, accentuated both by the internet realms in which we inhabit.
The two pieces deal with deep themes and Footnote rise to this challenge with effortless embodiment and soulful investment. A wonderful piece theatre, marking Aotearoa solidly back on the map for contemporary dance after the disruptions of the past few years.
Footnote’s IYKYK is on tour in NZ until August.