Made in Taiwan

This is the amazing thing about dance and this is why I'm excited about the International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB). Admittedly, I've only seen this one performance so far, (which was the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan's Moon Water - seeing as I've so far failed to mention what the heck I'm actually talking about...) but it was a spellbinding start to the festival. There's just something so human and primeval about dance that reaches parts of us that other things just don't reach. I've decided that words are over-rated. This blog ends here. Next time you want an opinion from me I might just contort my arm around my neck and balance on one leg instead. Argue with that ...

Anyway, back to the mesmerising Taiwanese: Every movement was a gorgeous reminder of their foreignness; not just in the movements themselves, but the Eastern T'ai Chi philosophy that informs them; almost painfully slow, unafraid of time, fluid, non-linear and quite mind-bendingly controlled. Part of me slightly fought against its exquisite deliberation; I just wanted to speed things up a bit or have one of the dancers go a bit nuts. Unlikely. I guess it's just our chaotic Western speed-freak mentality coming up against a whole different way of being, and it was really quite eye-opening.

So, as it turns out, the 'International' tag of the IDFB isn't just a PR trick - I felt like the otherworldly Cloud Gate Dance Theatre opened my eyes to another universe, never mind just another country. Perhaps it should be the Interplanetary Dance Festival Birmingham ...

Either way, a festival is always its own little world. It exists in a glorious bubble of music, colour, freedom and its own rules for a specific time. And that's why I'm a festival junkie. I'd go to anything that's a bit different from normal life - especially if there are people frolicking in the shops, salsa-ing in the Mailbox or backflipping off the statues in Victoria Square.

Why can't life always be like that? ...