Vuong 10 #dance #images #review
Vuong 10, premiered at Rich Mix, Bethnal Green London, (c) Carole Edrich 13/12/14
Anyone with an ounce of awareness will have seen the trend: people are relying increasingly on the internet and the intercession of communications devices for the way they interact, and sometimes to communicate at all. I don’t see how anyone can fail to be concerned about the long term consequences of more and more people meeting online (often never face to face), of an increasing number of people who seem to need machines or phones to communicate, of inattention to the people they are with for the sake of those online, or of the consequent polarisation of public opinion, significantly increased by our ability online to block and otherwise discount anyone who disagrees with us online.Future generations will inevitably relate to each other differently, and less healthily since none of these developments are managed or planned, with consequent impacts on our psyche.
Vuong 10, premiered at Rich Mix, Bethnal Green London, (c) Carole Edrich 13/12/14
Vuong 10 takes these ideas further. In a post-apocalyptic far-distant future two people struggle to express themselves in a series of beautifully choreographed quasi conversations without many meaningful words. While it’s apparent they’re committed to each other on a very deep level, their struggles indicate an awkwardness born from having learned to communicate only through machines.
Vuong is an exciting new collective, born from the introduction of musicians Leafcutter John (Polar Bear) and Max Baillie (Aurora Orchestra soloist) to dance people Nina Kov, Catarina Carvalho, and Michael-John Harper (Wayne McGregor | Random Dance) who have developed soundscape and choreography together in intimate inextricable fusion. This results in a combination of movements that are ocassionally lyrical but mostly fluidly awkward to an intimately intellectual futuristic score.
Vuong 10, premiered at Rich Mix, Bethnal Green London, (c) Carole Edrich 13/12/14
Dancers Kenny Wing Tao Ho and Maren Fidje Bjørneseth are compelling; agonised expressions accompany movements that indicate a striving for completion and just-missed meaning that, like the music, must be experienced to be grasped. It’s just as well that they already have scheduled performances for next year. Check their facebook pages for more.