Say Something by H2Dance

Well if I must say something, I would say I was expecting a bit more dance, as the overriding strength of this piece was the power of the sounds that were created for me.  It was an immersive theatre/music/dance piece which involved the audience full on.  We were surrounded by sounds created by this 20 strong cast and encouraged to interact vocally and physically with the piece and the performers.  Personally I found it an exciting and stimulating experience, if a little disconcerting.  I would have preferred to have been a little bit better briefed by the company before entering into the experience (although we were briefed once in the actual performance space).  Some audience members might not have reacted so favourably.  At the performance I attended we were made to wait for 15 minutes or so before being let into the space due to technical difficulties.  I think this may have alienated some audience members before we started.  Also, I felt that audience interaction was tentative and peripheral and I would have liked the audience to play around with the opportunities offered them a lot more than they did, but the level of interaction will obviously vary from performance to performance with a piece like this.

There seemed to be a core of about 4 dancers and the rest were mainly singers who moved a bit, I would have said.  Certainly the singing and sounds were the most powerful element for me, which was slightly disappointing as I was expecting a dance piece!  Clever use of technology, playing back audience comments made during the piece and using them to create a new soundscape which the performers then danced to.  Broke all the rules about focus (although, hey, rules are there to be broken!) as I often did not know where to look and felt I wanted to be looking in four different directions at once.

Would love to see something like this on rural touring just to break down that audience/performer barrier but the practicalities (not to mention the cost) of touring a piece of this size would present a huge challenge.  However, the idea of a collaboration between a dance company and - say - a local choir is an interesting concept that might repay some further exploration.   Perhaps some virtual rehearsal time collaborating between the two could be coupled with a session on the day to create something?  Just an idea….

Review by Gill Vickers