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A common message given striking new impact, using dance that speaks articulately of evolution and revolution.Summary
Rating
Excellent
I admit, I had preconceptions about Company MEK‘s hip hop dance piece Father Politics. As a middle-aged white woman, this surely wasn’t for me. But I love The Coronet‘s programming and am really interested in work by and for young people, so what did I have to lose? Turns out I’m exactly the kind of person who should see this show; as was the person next to me, and the entire auditorium.
It begins with what seems a quite naive, familiar speech about how the world is run by old white men and little room is left for representation of others, particularly those from the global majority and women. It’s a common tale, so how can it be told differently to give impact? Well, by totally shifting the form it’s related in, that’s how.
This production is a clever, dynamic and inventive challenge to patriarchal authority that questions our cultural institutions using the tools of youth culture. It articulates the feelings of young people by speaking their language, be that contemporary movement and music, or spoken word. The message is elevated as hip hop dance moves fuse with balletic influence and classical tones to giving a dignity and credence to its expression.
It’s a diverse cast of seriously talented dancers, by necessity all different shapes, sizes and backgrounds: as the show says, “How can we have conversations about everyone if not everyone is involved in the conversation?” Perspectives are challenged early on when the term “Angry black woman” is twisted by a white man to reframe the opening declaration, making valid personal grievance a negative thing. We’re then in a space of manipulation, where a black jacket representative of patriarchal authority is symbolically tried on, accepted, refused. It’s definitely a temptation. But who is allowed to wear it, and how? With vital, dynamic energy and humour the troupe explore and interpret themes including media manipulation, gender expectations, politics, the powerlessness of the individual and the power of the system.
The dance itself is remarkable, at times meticulously synchronised, with each elbow, neck, foot and finger morphing seamlessly across the group, and always at one with the rhythm and beats. At other moments the individual is the focus. Particularly outstanding is Moa Bomolo’s jaw-dropping fluidity and passion in performance, as he at times defies gravity in his floor work.
Daniel Tschanz’s lighting design is starkly impressive, underscoring ideas of self-aggrandisement using shadowplay, or elsewhere expressing stark isolation. And there’s a beautifully international feel to the soundtrack by Tobias Herzog, which ranges from classical sounds to techno beats, to Euro Pop. One spoken piece is flagged as being in Swiss German, with a translation distributed before the show. This unfamiliar dialect leaves us stretching to reach understanding, and power is flipped, as the audience are the ones now ‘othered’ by a conversation we cannot participate in.
At one point we are asked to look to our left and right, to acknowledge who is sitting with us as this conversation about altering the world takes place. Who is engaged? Responses are mixed. The old white men sitting next to me studiously face forward, resistant. It’s perhaps a message of change that’s hard to hear, but one that can’t be ignored when so passionately and impressively manifested. By the end of the show the garments of traditional authority are stripped off and flung away. This is a new world, with a new language of dance that speaks of evolution and revolution. Even if we’re trying not to listen we cannot help but see and understand that in this excellent piece of work.
Choreography by: Muhammed Kaltuk
Music by: Tobias Herzog (Clockworked)
Text by: Anna Chiedza Spörri
Stage & Costumes by: Kevin Peterhans
Lighting Design by: Daniel Tschanz
Production Manager: Fabienne Guldimann
Technical Partner: nuance Veranstaltungstechnik GmbH
Produced by: Kaserne Basel and COLOURS Festival Stuttgart
Father Politics has now finished its run. You can learn more about the company here.
