It's Not My Body Chapter 3.5 / This Is

Found both pieces interesting but not sure they were fitting to be billed together.

First piece was a genuinely incredible dance performance. I haven't seen someone move their body in that way. Their agility and full commitment was astonishing. I was engrossed for the whole of this performance.

Second piece was more minimal (I won't spoil it but reviews below go into more detail). It had much less going on, which was a clear artistic choice, and I found myself interested in the piece and drawn in towards the end, even if not completely blown away. Perhaps it was too different to the previous work that caused me to struggle with it to begin with.

I did enjoy both pieces overall, just that I had a clear favourite.

Two pieces -- very distinct.

Part One a man fighting his body in a confined space only to break free at the end. The physicality of this one man dance piece, astounding. Something that could only be achieved at the peak of youthful athleticism.

Part Two is the antithesis. It is a man in his 60s accompanied by his own voice over articulating what "is". There is mostly stillness. There is purposeful monotony. There is almost an anti-physical experience. It would be easy to write this off, but if you stay with it, it is near zen-like in its forcing the audience back to the present with each narrative statement. In its stillness it becomes a shared meditation -- at times tedious (intentionally so), but always refocusing the mind to what "is".

This will not be for everyone -- but if you go in with a beginner's mind, you may be delightfully surprised at how the pieces work together in an almost yen/yang, opposing forces sort of way.

The first performance was very athletic, some amazing techicial movements and positions. Thw second performance involved a voice over explaining that "this is a man. This is a man staring into space........." etc for 25 minutes. Very little movement, very slow, poor to watch, monotonous, very self-indulgent and a student arts experiment gone badly wrong. Very different to the billing, very disappointing, very frustrating and an admission price wasted.

This review has been removed by the original author