Hypnotic, demanding, and undeniably precise — even when it keeps you at a distance.Rating
Good!
Contemporary dance can feel intimidating when it abandons narrative and asks the audience to experience rather than understand. PUFF, directed by Alice Ripoll and performed by Hiltinho Fantástico, embraces that ambiguity completely. The piece unfolds less like a traditional dance show and more like an altered state — fleeting, disorienting, and deeply physical.
In near-total silence, with no soundtrack beyond breath, Hiltinho creates a hypnotic atmosphere where rhythm comes from within the body itself. His breathing is uneven and vulnerable, and the absence of music draws attention to each shift in energy, each pause, each exertion. His presence moves between lightness, tension, and heaviness; at times, he feels less like a dancer and more like a living sculpture.
One of the most striking moments came unexpectedly when an audience member’s phone rang during the performance. Rather than breaking the piece, Hiltinho absorbed the sound into it, echoing and transforming it through movement and voice as the choreography continued around the interruption. It briefly sharpened the sense of the work as reactive and self-contained, though not every moment carried the same level of clarity or impact.
The staging, with the audience seated around the performer in a square, makes the work feel immersive rather than distant. Every movement, shift in weight, and moment of stillness becomes visible from multiple perspectives, creating a sense of closeness that also heightens the pressure on the performer. When the body is the only instrument available, there is nowhere to hide.
The craftsmanship behind the performance is undeniable. Hiltinho’s mastery of Brazilian urban dance forms, particularly passinho — born of improvisational dance battles in Rio’s favelas and shaped by hip-hop and funk culture — gives the work an underlying pulse, even as the choreography moves into more abstract territory. Themes of concealment and transformation appear intermittently, suggesting hidden histories or inherited memories, though they remain more atmospheric than fully articulated.
This is far from a conventional Brazilian dance production. PUFF is experimental, sensory, and deliberately elusive, prioritising embodiment over explanation. While certain moments resonate strongly, others remain more distant, and for much of the performance, I found myself observing rather than fully entering its world. Even so, the rigour, precision, and commitment on display are unmistakable, and the ambition behind the work is clear throughout.
Directed by Alice Ripoll
Creation and Performance by Hiltinho Fantástico
Assistant Direction by Alan Ferreira and Thais Peixoto
Lighting Design by Tomás Ribas
Costume and Scenography by Alice Ripoll and Thais Peixoto
Tour Manager: Joana D’Aguiar
Production Assistants: Isabela Peixoto and Thais Peixoto
Original Soundtrack by Alice Ripoll and Mimosa
PUFF plays at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Angel until Thursday May 14.
