Resolution 2019: Bridget Lappin / Thomas Page Dances / Jay Yule - The Place
Resolution: Festival of new choreography presents a triple bill with three distinct artistic voices presenting their new works. Bridget Lappin, Thomas Page Dances and Jay Yule have produced socio-political works that range from discourse on female and non-binary sexual agency to meta-explorations of the meaning of life.
Bridget Lappin set the night in motion with a twenty-two minute long solo choreographed by herself. The piece of work titled Where We’ve Been, Little One navigated the themes of self-exploration and self-introspection. Such a broad theme was not circumscribed by her varied scenographic and choreographic choices. Lappin entered the space and sat by a wooden table with a retro cassette player, before situating herself downstage extremely close to the audience (the first of multiple moments where she teased the audience with immersive interactive qualities). Lappin sat and intently listened to a recording that dictated prose of ‘I have not yet found peace’ and ‘I have so many layers’. This was accompanied by a series of sharp and striking slapping motions against her thigh, before quickly dissipating to explore the notion of introspection through direct frontal address at the audience. Lappin stood with her arms out to the side, but a casual pedestrian fold at the elbow remained; her stance became a manifesto of self, vulnerability and humanism. Suddenly, a recording of the word ‘fuck’ sounded incessantly as her movement intensified, which was complimented by a writhing quality initiated from her hips and wrists. Although personable and endearing, the piece left room for a deeper sense of cohesion. What were Lappin’s motivations for such a pronounced sense of nostalgia with every voice-over dated from 2013? What specific manifestations of herself were the audience meant to empathise with every time she outwardly appealed to the spectators?
Aporia is the name of the next piece, which endeavored to investigate life’s perpetual state of aporia within human nature. Thomas Page Dances presents a work that navigates the paradoxical relationship between peace and conflict in key events of the human experience: love, battle and death. Futurism, as a stylistic feature, is an enjoyable presence within this piece, which weaved itself throughout the scenography and music. The ambient techno score, the shimmering silver costumes and blinding white stage lights operated in tandem to highlight the soaring kicks and indulgent lunges. The vigorous choreography was intercepted by moments of oration by one of the dancers, where they spoke about being ‘alive and at one with the world’. The dancers' pursued moments of stillness made the already accentuated spins to the floor and daring partner work even more pronounced.
Jay Yule closed the evening with the presentation of Viva La Vulva, a piece of work that was not only emancipatory and empowering but also pedagogical. Yule's interdisciplinary work provoked introspective reflection from the audience, posing the questions: is sex performative? and how do we as a society perceive female masturbation? The dancers begin in a sitting position, one kneeling the other with their legs spread apart, grapefruit and tomatoes laying between their legs. There was a sense of serenity that emanated from the dancers as they touched, ate and moulded the fruit. This tranquility functioned as a safe-space, away from patriarchal perimeters, to explore what sexuality means for women and non-binary individuals. Curiosity and intrigue radiated from the dancers as they dressed themselves in the textural dresses embellished with sparkly and garish ruffles, implicitly modeled on female genitalia. The costumes were multi-functional as, although they could be perceived as cloaks of sexual perfomativity, the self-curious and self-indulgent way the dancers draped themselves in the dresses was a testament to female and non-binary sexual agency. Viva La Vulva uncompromisingly demands an end to reductionist discourse on sexuality.
Edited by Evangeline Stanford
Resolution 2019
January 11 - February 23 2019
The Place - 17 Duke's Road - London WC1H 9PY UK
Tickets: £16 / £12 Concessions
