Lincolnshire Dance

The dance performance “Inside” was an atmospheric and haunting depiction of life behind bars. The dramatic lighting combined with the undercurrent of contemporary music drew you into an entrancing and sometimes disturbing insight into the effects of imprisonment.

This piece gradually revealed the story of a brutal regime and explored how individuals reacted in these extreme circumstances. Each dancer moved with extraordinary skill, showing the physicality of the mental turmoil they were each suffering with. As the dancers moved effortlessly across the space, writhing and stretching through the shadows, each character began to fall into similar sequences whilst still communicating their internal frustrations.

Human emotions such as anger, loneliness, and despair ripped through the structured lighting, set design and music to portray a depiction of humanity stripped down to its most basic and raw feelings. This performance forced the audience, through the laboured and tortured characters, to really consider the brutality of imprisonment, and revealed the stark truth as to what losing freedom can do to the soul.

Throughout the piece, the dancers moved with a continuous energy, communicating to the audience the arduous and monotonous reality of the characters lives. One of the most intriguing elements of this piece was that rather than culminating in a specific ending, the audience was left in no doubt that the characters would continue in this disturbing collection of routine and mental torture long after the curtain had fallen. The choreography showed both the activity and strength of life’s force alongside the fluidity and darkness of the creeping shadows. Dancers performed alone, in pairs and together, revealing a range that showed the characters lives in a real and sometimes dystopian light. These elements made the piece a thought provoking one, engaging successfully with the audience to evoke a gritty and emotive drama through the medium of dance.

Words by Suzanne Thorbinson