Footnote Dance Company (Wellington), 5/5.
This beautiful and unsettling collaboration between Footnote Dance Company, Jo Randerson and Kate McIntosh dissected the child-like and self-conscious dynamics of a group. The figures, covered from head-to-toe in different coloured lycra bodysuits, participated in an hour-long playground palaver; playing, following rules, breaking rules, reforming and comprehending the politics of life as a collective body.
The piece portrayed the naive, child-like negotiations of the group as they tried to assert control over their bodies, each other and the space around them. Swarming, surging, floating and leaping, the group coughed their way through a series of games, exiting the stage and then entering to play again.
Strewn around the periphery of the stage were piles of paper-products; newspapers, egg trays, cups, cardboard tubes and a roll of blank newsprint. Each item was commandeered by the group, and competition for ownership and control of these commodities swung from innocent interaction to sinister domination.
The game changed and there were new rules. The group dissected and ruptured as individual traits were revealed. Once you were out of the group there was no hope of return. The performers morphed their figures, shoving paper-products into their costumes, growing outwards and upwards and transforming before our very eyes. Chaos ensued, a war broke out and all that was left was a wasteland of destruction.
What was glorious about Hullapolloi was that you could not take your eyes off the performers. Like watching small children playing, each figure had their own personality quirks and each was identifiable amongst the collective aura. The minute negotiations of every action and thought were visible. The music was equally striking; it had a personality all of its own, possessing qualities of both the group and each individual figure, and both drove the performers and reflected their presence and energy.
Hullapolloi was stunning. Provoking yet familiar, I cannot praise this work enough. Thank you.
Hullapolloi
