Festival
DANCE & PHYSICAL THEATRE
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MONUMENTAL The risks come thick and fast in The Holy Body Tattoo’s powerful show For most people, dancing on the l oor is challenge enough. So hats off to the nine dancers in monumental, who spend over 30 minutes performing energetic movement on pedestals, without toppling off.
‘The dancers are very intimate with their boxes,’ says Dana Gingras, co-choreographer of Canadian dance company The Holy Body Tattoo. ‘They’re on there from day one of rehearsals, because they spend more than half the piece on them – to the point where you want to scream at them to get off. There are lights inside the boxes that sometimes shine up into their faces, so there’s a lot of risk. ‘But the piece was built with the boxes in mind, so it was just about
getting the dancers used to them – not that I’d say they ever get comfortable, and if they did we’d have to push it a bit more, because part of the risk is there’s always that edge.’
Joining The Holy Body Tattoo on stage will be fellow Canadian trailblazers Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who will drive all this risky movement along with an intense live score that Gingras says, ‘goes right into your bones’. (Kelly Apter) ■ Playhouse, 473 2000, 8 & 9 Aug, 8pm, £10–£32.
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4–11 Aug 2016 THE LIST FESTIVAL 61