Star rating: **** A very clever mixed bill of three new pieces for five male dancers, touring under the State of Emergency production banner, culminates in an intense 20 minutes by Colin Poole under the punning title 4s:Kin.
To a score that runs from Curtis Mayfield to Mozart and culminates in some witty shape-throwing to the sounds of Amy Winehouse, Poole's take on the tensions of male camaraderie is full of instantly recognisable emotions as well as sarcastic subversion of all those hip hop crotch-grabbing moves.
It deserves its place as the second-half culmination of the programme, but all three works are full of good things. Jeanefer Jean-Charles's female perspective on male violence, It's a Boy, makes telling parallel between bodies that are helpless and those that are lifeless, and uses the careful observation of the body language of confrontation and backing off. DJ Walde's soundtrack ends with compelling sampled use of the words "role model" that negates some clumsier dialogue earlier on. Kwesi Johnson's Wilderness is a collaborative effort about father/son bonding that employs the lightest of touches, but it's no less skilled for that. A verbal statement that plays on the homonyms "presents" and "presence" sits comfortably alongside playful shenanigans with camping equipment - including what can only be described as dancing within tent.
There is a good deal of clever improvisation and manipulation of inanimate objects here, showing off the skills of some very fine dancers, particularly Orkney's Tony Mills, whose gawky man-boy persona here contrasts with sinuous vulnerability elsewhere. His integration of street dance vocabulary and skills with more academic contemporary moves is mirrored across the company.
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