Monday 30th March 2020, Online Viewing
In the midst of a pandemic and the boredom that comes with necessary isolation, you cannot beat a bit of escapism and entertainment, and Jasmin Vardimon’s online screening of 2018 hit Medusa provided a concrete eighty minutes of it.
Medusa is an exemplary piece of dance-theatre with story-telling at its core,unpicking classic Greek mythology with a modern twist. Oceanic symbolism combined with harrowing explorations of gender, power and objectification are raised in relation to environmental pressures we face today, adding a unique social prominence to the magical tale. But do not let the fantasy fool you, this is no fairy-tale…
Opening the performance, a stage flooded with a sea of acquiescent plastic, brought to life by the hidden performers lurking beneath it. Reality is distorted as a female performer seemingly levitates before our eyes, her jellyfish skirt dancing with her, adding to her unearthly presence. The encompassing waves of the plastic ocean are replicated in her body through captivating undulations and glossy ripples. This relentless fluidity is never lost, even when the plastic is replaced by the stellar cast of all eight performers, criss-crossing their way past each other to resume the ebb and flow.
Soon water turns to stone as the smooth fluidity is replaced with staccato robotic movement. Four female performers stand frozen, plastic covering them like dolls in their packaging, emphasized by the male performers as they come and take their pick, sweeping away the leftovers with a broom. The doll-like character is later seen sporting a range of accessories, from a selection of hats to rival Barbie to some stereotypical oven gloves and an apron.
Opposing ideas of masculinity and femininity continue to be challenged throughout. A male performer with a female shadow use mirroring and spoken word to battle for the light. A cartoonish female performer dressed as a male embarks on a skittish solo, complete with falls into the splits and gestural goofiness, until she is caught with a rope which is eventually wrapped around her head, resonant of a real-life voodoo doll. Her catcher, a powerful female performer in a slinky bronze dress does not stop there. Twisting her hands into intricate shapes she manipulates a duet between a male and female performer from opposite ends of the stage, drawing them together and tearing them apart in an intimate yet violent exchange. Soon she has the full cast of performers running circles around her, literally. Like a scene from Total Wipeout, the performers take turns ducking and jumping over her swinging hoop of green light, a show-stopping moment filled with virtuosic athleticism.
Impressive interactions with clever props add strength to the piece throughout. Two men in domineering antlers have a stand-off as matching pairs of legs and floppy hats sunbathe in the background. A female performer runs around the stage blindfolded, antagonised by the others banging wooden sticks which she soon incredibly climbs despite her lack of sight. A male performer enters with a bin replacing his head, its lid doubling as a mouth that proceeds to spew rubbish all over the stage. He is followed by two other male performers, this time with slinky springs as heads that weigh them down. In contrast, the five female performers whip their long hair and swish their pretty skirts in a weightless, carefree section, but it is not long before a man comes to ruin their fun (again), leaving a female performer with her feet bound to the stage, until she is ripped from her place, exposed roots hanging from her feet and reverberations twitching around her body. Her empty space is mourned with a flower where she stood and a weighted phrase performed in unison by the six performers on stage, throwing their limbs in abandonment and collapsing to the floor, not without Vardimon’s striking trademark high kicks.
The ending sees a new power woman in the lead, this time with her long hair pulled into segmented strands to recreate the unmistakable Medusa imagery in a simple but charming manner. A cinematic battle makes up the final moments concluding in an epic defeat complete with black dust that glitters in the air. A spectacularly fitting end to a surreal piece of magic from Vardimon.
Megan Hamer
DIGESTING DANCE 