Review: RUN, 2 FACED DANCE, Dance Xchange, 14 October 2016

2 Faced Dance Company's Run is an evening of dance presented by a trio of female choreographers, featuring three new works from the company's artistic director Tamsin Fitzgerald, Prague-based Lenka Vagnerova and the first BENCH commission recipient Rebecca Evans.

All three pieces - danced by 2 Faced Dance's all-male company - explore human choice and our decision to take flight or fight the darker side of humanity. Themes of fear, paranoia and evil resonate throughout the evening, which feels particularly poignant given the current political instability.

Run opens with Fitzgerald's "From Above". Exploring the dangers of social media and the internet, the stage is lit from above by three fluorescent panels, glowing like a tablet's screen. Chains hanging from each panel allow the dancers to move and tilt the lights, whilst also marking out a square section in which the main action takes place. Kai Tomioka opens the piece, stunning with jerking movements and unusual points of balance. Flickering lighting distorts his movements, like those of a computer-generated avatar.

Fitzgerald's choreography subtly suggests the curated personalities projected on social media platforms. As each dancer enters the central square, their movement becomes more introverted, with hunched shoulders and self-conscious glances over a shoulder. Energy flows between dancers, as pairs alternate between dominant and submissive roles, as though absorbing one another's thoughts and emotions.

In a reaction to the current political situation of immigration, Rebecca Evans' "The Other" uses the lens of supernatural horror to explore our relationship with the fear of the unknown. Bachar Mar-Khalife's evocative, chanting music creates a intimate atmosphere for this haunting duet. A series of handheld lamps take us on a journey through various settings, from a child's bedtime story, to a crime scene, a spooky magician-like character and a torture room: it's a snapshot of the different ways we experience fear throughout our lives.

Two dancers manipulate the lamps - one rearranging to create a protective barrier, the other spinning and upending them to create vivid, flashing images, even uplighting his face in a macabre reinterpretation of a campfire ghost story. Jason Boyle encapsulates the icy, consuming power of fear or phobia, his calm, poised movements and expressive gestures contrasting with the desperate, ragged breaths of Jack Humphrey.

The final piece in Run is "Fallen Angels" from Lenka Vagnerova. This powerful narrative explores the root of evil, questioning whether or not violence and destruction are inherent in humanity (man in particular), or whether we are corrupted by our environment. It also addresses different interpretations of masculinity , from the brawling drunk to the hypnotic snake-charmer.

The dancers become hatching chicks (or inner demons breaking free); awkward arms and elbows breaking free from beneath T-shirts, accompanied by the sharp sound of a cracking egg. Music throbs like an increased heartbeat, choreography twitches and pulses, and a polished, coiled snake whispers words of evil.

As the atmosphere of evil and violence builds, the dancers must choose between good and bad. The company manipulate one dancer in a series of astonishing lifts, gliding low across the floor with stunning speed, or sandwiched between tightly clasped arms and legs, defying gravity. This fluid finale delineates the fine divide between good and evil, right and wrong. Is this lifted dancer soaring towards heaven, or sinking and scrabbling down to hell?

Run is an insightful, intelligent programme, danced with quicksilver fluidity and the confidence of performers who trust the choreographer and their intentions implicitly. Although clearly responding to and addressing the current tumultuous political climate, these three pieces ask important questions about human nature, fear and choice that apply to every place and time. This is urgent, searing dance theatre that stays with you long after the performance ends.

2 Faced Dance's Run is touring nationally until 30 November 2016.

Photo: Chris Nash

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