EDINBURGH 2023: Review: #SINCE1994, Taiwan Season, Assembly Roxy

Led by all woman artists, Eye Catching Circus’ #Since1994 is not just a highly skilled display of circus acts but a message much deeper. What does It mean to be a woman and how does one navigate this in a modern society overflowing with expectation?

We are taken through the story of the various stages of a woman’s life in episodes. Told by four women and an androgynous man, the five explore emotions of desire, rage, jealousy and femininity using highly skilled acrobats and interactive performance artists.

From a dark black stage a torch appears on a solo dancer, illuminating parts of their body with a flashlight. Three women then emerge and do a synchronised dance with hoops that suggest an umbilical cord. Then within a cage the four performers slither around each other. Diverse acrobatic work along heavy electronic music gives feelings of female empowerment, sexual expression and desire. However, the set design and facial expressions allude to something much darker; notions of vulnerability, pain and entrapment bring us hints of deep sadness.

The performance artist aspect is certainly unusual, a solo dancer comes on the stage and suggests childbirth as different pieces of red cloth come bounding out of him as he pops a balloon suggesting a miscarriage and taunting female trauma.

Interactive elements when the four dancers come and ask the audience to draw red lipstick on them is unsettling. An androgynous man walks through the audience in very close proximity. There is no doubt these features are unsettling and purposefully difficult to sit through. However, they only emphasise further messages; do our aesthetics effect what it means to be woman?

It is fair to say this is an absurdist and unusual spectacle and will not be for everyone. To me it was circus and performance art at its best; a highly skilled spectacle inducing thoughts and questions. These artists make the human body look malleable with their supernatural synchronised symmetry and elegant movements are exquisite to watch.

This felt like an introspective look at the modern woman. A soul-searching, thought provoking, beautiful and freaky look at its meaning blended with a showcase of acrobatic excellence made it a thrill to watch.

#Since1994 is at Assembly Roxy Aug 15-20, 22-27

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