Words by Eoin Fenton.
Everyone is doing smaller works these days. Often when flicking through dance offerings of the season you’re met with an increasing amount of solos and duets, trios and works for smaller ensembles. You can’t blame them for it, we’ve more or less been in an economic crisis for half a decade and mounting any kind of piece is increasingly inaccessible. This is where Stephanie Lake comes in. Her work COLOSSUS has been enjoyed around the world since its premiere in Melbourne in 2018, crossing continents and various casts since then. The premise is simple: teach a large ensemble work to a cast of dozens from a local school or company over two weeks and set them loose onstage. As we take our seats we see a ring of reclining bodies waiting to start the action.
The ensemble in this iteration is made up of students from the London Contemporary Dance School, you can tell they’re in training still from the hope in their eyes. As a collective they are particularly strong in floorwork and the disconjoined flow that Lake employs. There’s a few opening-night hiccups in the tighter ensemble sections where precision is king, but this is a world away from the Rockettes or a stadium in Pyongyang. This is a more uncanny space, often you feel as if you’re peeking in on an ant farm or a tribe of robots. The stage is little more than a plain white box with dancers clad in nondescript black clothing, those dwelling in the space couldn’t be more exposed.
Despite the plain setting there are still a lot of visual motifs to be found in the work. At points you might see a statue garden, spectators of a tennis match, or trooping the colour. The cast hum like a distant swarm of bees, they march and clap in time. At one point the lights go out and in a panic they all begin shrieking and howling like terrified animals. We’re never entirely sure what has brought these people together, they just are. We are equally unsure of why they are so inclined to follow each other’s command. The ambiguity of this society’s genesis does lend itself to something rather anthropological in COLOSSUS, though it’s not always showing humanity at its best. Many scenes feel dictatorial or like a descent into mob-rule. At one point a solitary dancer is singled out by the rest of the herd, chasing him as a screaming mass until he collapses from exhaustion — but it’s not long before he finds himself suddenly conducting the ensemble like a school choir.
Lake’s fascination with leadership and command is perhaps the most integral anchor to the piece, there is often only one figure directing the action. Sometimes they are benevolent, other times they are cruel gods forcing their minions to tap dance. Again, we aren’t sure why these anxious beings are so inclined to follow like lemmings, but there is an insatiable attitude to get the task done whatever it may be. The sense of constant construction and deconstruction keeps us hooked, as does Robin Fox’s propelling score which revs like an engine. Though not entirely innovative in its content, in fact many scenes are reminiscent of the likes of Anna Meredith or Crystal Pite, COLOSSUS is still a work that makes a mark on those that watch. A pretty big one at that.
COLOSSUS runs in the Southbank until the 27th June. It then tours to the Galway International Arts Festival from the 21st-26th July. Image credit: COLOSSUS by Stephanie Lake Company, a co-production with London Contemporary Dance School at The Place and the Southbank Centre. Photo by Camilla Greenwell.