Review: SKIN HUNGER at Teatr Polski In Wroclaw

Who would we be without touching? Can man exist without it? What does this give us? There is no definite statement, but Joe Alter takes us on a journey to find answers without words, only through music and touch.

Skin hunger is a term used by psychotherapists to describe the effects of prolonged lack of physical contact leading to loss of health: a weakened immune system, sleep disturbances, frustration, anxiety and depression. Touch is the primary way to communicate our needs.

The performance is led by 4 dancers: Katarzyna Baran, Daniela Komedera-Miskiewicz, Mikolaj Karczewski, Piotr Stanek and the senses of the audience. We inhale mystical smoke, we see darkness. Then, together with the performers, we sense some skin, we literally feel as if we touch their bodies together with them in an intimate rapture. There is a lot of skin, a lot of stretching. Movement perceived as an additional sense. The touch is different, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, deep, delicate, sensual. We are witnessing an experiment about the need for closeness, energy flows, and on this journey we accompany the dancers and their struggles. The skin can be nice or unpleasant, it can be nice or bad, the lines are blurred. Touching bodies is a bit like playing with a flame. All the viewer's thoughts fall silent after a while and we enter the convention, there are only sensations, no content. What a relief for the senses - it is a kind of levitation, a cut-off from real thoughts, and only touch remains.

The interactions are full of mystery, there is smoke and fantastic light, these mechanisms bring us into a kind of hypnosis. The roles of the performers change with the songs and we follow them. Beautiful duets, dynamic group scenes, intimate interactions and energetic contacts. Everything is there and invites us to the sensual world. It's hard to put into words. Touch makes more sense if it connects.

This sensual mixture introduces a strange state of hunger for touch and its greater understanding. Finally, we can understand more than just that we need it badly.

Photo: Michal Chytkowski