Lamina | VOiiiD Collective
Banshee31000. Image supplied.
I was privileged to enjoy two fresh dance performances at PIP Theatre as part of Melt Fest. The first, a short intro piece performed by Jade Brider, dancer, choreographer and person of interest to be seen everywhere these days. Due to a series of unfortunate prior engagements, this is not the first time it has been performed but the first time I’ve been able to see the solo work Banshee31000. Shades of scifi, this short piece sees the entrance of our protagonist as she robotically paces forward endlessly, before donning an eclectic rainbow woollen mask/hat/wig/cap/cloak suspended in rigging. Upon donning the hat the dancers movement spun into increasingly frenetic variations. It made me wonder if the body wears the soul like a hat. I thought of shaman’s and how they wore bespoke and sacred costumery to summon gods and ancestors. If the body is just the body, and the soul a flavour that passes through the mortal vessel. The ultimate denouement saw the body and soul discard the mask and return to its original self, the same and yet changed, free and yet having escaped.
Lamina. Image supplied.
The longer title piece Lamina was performed as a two hander by Nadia Milford and Georgia Pierce. Originally performed by five, the two dancers assumed the roles of all five and smashed through a brightly coloured cacophony of choreo.
Exploring the plight of women and the internal violence that socialisation that demands of them, be it sexual favours or pliant submission or ladylike behaviour. And how those societal pressures prevent us from expressing ourselves in the style of our true selves. I had the ungenerous thought for the dichotomy of watching a piece about stifled self-expression presented by fit beautiful young women who clearly have the skills, confidence, intelligence and force of will to create and perform pieces of total self-expression. But ungenerous it is, because who feels the pressures of societal expectation more keenly than young women, so who better to perform it.
They entered in brightly coloured heat mapped leotards and perfectly groomed and shiny Gattaca-esque heads. They moved beautifully, fluidly in one scene, in tandem for a note, again an element of robotic science fiction. The wearing of wigs as a taking on and putting off of the Role Of Woman. It is hard to say with any definitive voice what was actually the narrative line, but among other visions passing by I saw a duet of crabs in a backet – that is, one shall not escape without the other dragging them back in. If we can’t build each other up we will pull each other down, a sad thought indeed. The alternating solos and duets threshed out a range of poignant challenges, in each scene introducing elements of decay, and finally an entropic descent into freedom.
Lamina. Image supplied.
It was nice to see the dancers really using their faces, inhabiting characters with whole selves. It is not uncommon to see dance performed with full emotion in the body and a still mask of a face, or perhaps a handful of choregraphed expressions. These two had facial expressions as extensions, or perhaps as instigators for movement, which extended into occasional vocalisations. It was neither trite nor artificial, adding depth to the characterisation.
It had a cracking soundtrack, club bangers and rock’n’roll and sparse poetical confessionals and much more besides, and the overall pace moved with a pleasing balance of energetic peaks and ebbs and flows and changes. Witnessed on the eve of significant political change I felt it’s pull as a rallying call and rite of resistance. It was warm and strong and performed with vigour and made me want to join them in the theatre and on the streets throwing off whatever constraints of performative femininity still weigh me down, still weigh you down.
