Beyond Language

It's the first time I've seen a dance show at the Rep; so that was quite exciting. In fact, the show turned out to be more theatrical than I had anticipated; it being an issue-based work. There is a clear sense of situation, narrative and character - and even more talking dancers! Gadzooks - what is the world of dance coming to?! ...

The choreography and performances themselves were absolutely breathtaking, but one of the most striking things was the sense of character in the piece. Khan has chosen 8 dancers from across the globe, and he evidently encourages them to express their individual histories and backgrounds; which makes for a really rich and striking show. It was another International Dance Festival all in itself.

This isn't just movement - this is about stuff. Stuff like origins and home and human nature and communication. But not on an abstract or intellectual level; this was an utterly human experience to the core. It threw me back to where I started - way back in mists of time at the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre on 29th April - getting the impression that there's just something so inherently human and primeval about dance that reaches parts of us that other things just don't reach.

I recently had the pleasure of talking to local choreographer Rosie Kay and she was commenting on how many people say that they "don't understand dance". Well, what does it mean to 'understand' dance? Is it just being knowledgeable about the various stylistic shapes of movement? I'm not sure that I would 'understand' a ballet any more if I knew the name of each little movement that they made. After all, it's not a verbal medium (well, on the whole - unless you're Akram Khan or Cas Public!) Rosie was remarking about the fact that despite how so many people say they don't 'understand' dance it's still the instinctive thing to do at a party, at weddings, other ceremonies and events, and, most of all, what we all want to do on a Saturday night to let our hair down. To dance is human.

There is an element of mystery, or crypticness about dance, but I think that's only because it isn't verbally explicit. But there is still something immediately familiar in it that we recognise and respond to; though not necessarily in an intellectual, articulate way.

Back to bahok: This difference between verbal and non-verbal communication was made explicit by Khan and his company. One of the clearest demonstrations of this issue occurred when the Korean dancer was attempting to break up a fight between a Chinese dancer and a Slovakian dancer - verbal intervention was futile but when he broke into movement everything strangely suddenly made far more sense ...

Perhaps this shouldn't be such a surprise, as 97% of communication is non-verbal, and dance, essentially, is communication. It's expression. It's always saying something...

Oh, and for those of you that do want a review, here it is: It was amazing. 5 stars.