The evening started with an introduction by Exeter College Dance Students teamed with The Chhaya Collective Youth Dance Company. The two groups had worked together to create a curtain raiser using influences from Chhaya Collective’s movement vocabulary, dance style and themes. The piece was a lively start to the evening, with live music and lots of energetic phrases of movement. It was the beginnings of the celebration we had been promised for the main dance piece of the evening.

KHAOS was performed by six women. Three musicians were placed on one side of the stage providing a complex soundscape for the production. One that followed the raw emotion of the dancers as they broke free of the suppression put upon them, in order to truly celebrate who they were.

The piece began with a duet, an exploration of movement that repeated and grew over time. The natural breath sounds magnified every movement creating texture and highlights. The group enters, each dancer fighting to stand out amongst the chattering crowds as they shuffle around the stage. The dance phrases were repetitive, making the breaks in the cycle that much more intense. You can see a clear influence of celebratory dance here, with ritual like elements as they circle each other. The dancers appear like warriors, with strong and powerful physicality as they constantly shift through the space. The focal points rebounding off the chaos created.

The energy constantly increases and intensifies. The duet from the beginning is repeated but with all the dancers, it builds and builds until we are blessed with joyous fun. Light and fresh, exhausted and ready to dance ourselves.

Top Image: Chhaya Collective