Review-Fakest-NVAF
11-11-12
I don’t normally dig dance and I was dragged to this by my wife insisting it would be good for our son (who declined more forcefully than me so didn’t come anyway). By the end I had to be dragged from the theatre because I was so enraptured. This show packs the biggest WOW punch I’ve ever felt from a dance show (and I can say that without too much difficulty because I don’t go to a lot). But it goes beyond that. And here’s how.
It has pace. More to the point, it has pacing. There are hyper-kinetic sequences of sustained choreography which make you think Michael Jackson might be about to resurrect on stage and blast you into a well-WOWed state of awe at such exhilarating yet controlled conjunction of hi-tech lighting, wall of sound and mass movement. And then there are quieter moments when (for example) just a drummer and dancer are on stage together, a pas de deux interlacing the rhythms of each instrument (body and drum). This Wrecking Crew ‘Orchestra’ uses all kinds of technology – for excellent effect – and then virtually none at all - to do soft and slow as well as loud and fast.
It’s funny, a humour that’s dramatic, developed and sustained. A beat-box artist conjuring up a ‘drum solo’ barrage of sound which somehow then becomes a ball of auditory gunk, whizzing around the stage then auditorium to test the skills and patience of his dancing colleague. A group of kids on a ‘learn to hip-hop’ countryside picnic who outperform their ‘teacher’. A tai chi master with ‘magical’ powers. And more. Each an interlude to the ‘witchcraft’ of the full-frontal street dance wizardry.
It has humility. At the end, with 50 street artists on stage, each took their bow as a team, signifying an integration of human artistry, technical skill and technological firepower that seemed supremely Japanese yet essentially international in celebrating a street form so quintessentially Western and taking it to a new level of sophistication.
I could go on. But I won’t. Suffice to say, it had the Kwai Tsing (full house) audience on its feet after 2 hours of (no intermission) intensity. This is quite simply a must-see. Unless you are someone who doesn’t do flashing lights and loud music. In which case…
Go to the Sai Kung Waterfront Park this afternoon (Sunday 11 November) because Wrecking Crew Orchestra is putting on a special extra performance. It’s free. And it’s where it really should be – back on the street where these moves originated. No technical pyrotechnics of light and sound, just breathtaking competence and creativity of the human body and mind. They may like to pretend they are the ‘Fakest’, but this is very much the Real Thing.
Fakest played its last show at Kwai Tsing Theatre last night 10 November 2012 but the Wrecking Crew Orchestra is staging a free demonstration of street dance this afternoon Sunday 11 November at Sai Kung Waterfront Park - for more information please click here.
Comments
Brad
A good review Tom. Easy to understand and well written. See, I'm not a total monster
12 November 2012