This Time It’s Personal | Sam Evans
On Saturday night I got a taste of the Mad Dance Festival, when I went to see street dancer Sam Evans hit the theatre at Metro Arts, for a showing of this creative work in development, This Time It’s Personal. It was a fresh glimpse into the world of dance, and a closer look at the inner workings of an up and coming performer, with about 25-30 minutes of performance content, followed by an open discussion to boot. These type of shindigs where the audience get to hear from creators, and experience an artistic community in the workings, are amongst my favourites.
Evans came out strong and committed to character, bringing robots, dolls, and puppets to life amidst hectic high energy tricks in a very small space. It was a lot of fun. He is a strong comedic performer and commanded the audience early on with dance techniques you really need to see to believe.
In a show of his versatility, Evans also took us to his darkness and his quiet peace too, all the while holding space, manipulating it with his body… sometimes seemingly defying the laws of physics.
Performing to an eclectic selection of music from Eminem through to Simon and Garfunkel, the soundtrack also included a number of personal voice overs. I felt this element gave the piece more depth. It certainly helped me to connect to the foundations that Evans is building from. Just hearing his inner monologue about, ‘What do people think of me? Do I even care? No! But then, my profession as an entertainer is all about what people think of me’ [paraphrased]. As a reviewer I can relate to this narrative, as I am a tiny speck in this process of action and reaction. We all are, and it fascinates me
I feel the play of the title now. It’s definitely a statement that can go a number of ways and I like that about it, as this show is quite adaptable, especially being freestyled. More than that though, I love the personal play on words. This can be a statement that is angry… I mean it could even be the catch cry of an upset mob, but in this case, it also alludes to the personal story before your very eyes, and the biographical nature of this piece. Who is this entertainer? And in turn, that always leads us as humans to question who we are.
The audience participation elements were highly effective and in theme with the greater narrative. In the time Evans was on stage, he managed to get two audience members to join him onstage for a light-hearted play with the way they see themselves literally and metaphorically, involving both dance and props. Ultimately the show even ended with the payoff of a gag on the audience through their participation. It went well and it would be great to really make the most of that leverage he has with his audience.
It was an organic place to finish, and I’m honestly amazed that all of the above happened in only a thirty minute showing of a piece based on improvised dance! It worked exceptionally well on the small stage, for a number of reasons too, especially being a one man show with a lot of audience participation, the moments of stillness, the facial expressions, and the special effects and light play. I look forward to seeing this teased out to the full length show, with a little more room for Evans and his accomplices to move.
