Dancers give the right sign

Review Dance

MR. SIGN

T.H.E Dance Company

Esplanade Theatre Studio/Last Saturday

T.H.E Dance Company has struck gold with South Korean choreographer Kim Jae Duk, and they know it.

Appointed resident choreographer this year, Kim is a precociously talented maverick who composes his own music for his high-octane dance pieces.

Mr. Sign is Kim's first full-length creation for the company and displays his signature movement vocabulary of stylised lopes, bobs and quivers spliced with detailed gestures. While certain sections feel overlong, the work is hard-hitting with a tinge of humour.

A single fluorescent tube flickers on as Lee Mun Wai combines the discreet and the expansive to begin the work. The stage seems to be enveloped in a consuming force field, sending the dancers into whirling spins and sudden drops. Their gentle power gains momentum, escalating to an apocalyptic climax of impactful hits and thrusts to Kim's driving music. Anna Rouhu lights the stage sensitively and very suitably.

The work's stunning sections of danced unison are a sign of solidarity, as well as a commentary on social conformity. When one dancer deviates, he or she does so out of agitation, questioning the norm and exerting the self.

As the work progresses, Kim's animalistic movement devolves into apeish behaviour, with the dancers adopting more grounded stances and barbaric attitudes. They rise to the occasion as confident performers, impressing beyond their usually faultless dancing. Mr. Sign sees them taking on more complex stage personas, uttering gibberish, and jumping on tables.

Yarra Ileto puts in a standout performance, particularly in a sequence where she recites a monologue of jumbled sentences while staggering in an awkward Chaplin-esque stance. In another scene, she shines through amid the cacophony of voices, her portrayal of insecurity laced with a gripping delirium.

There are several unforgettable images from the 70-minute-long work such as the haunting anonymity the dancers assume when they don gas masks which engulf their faces. Gesticulating to the remixed strains of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, their precision is not unlike that of a taut corps de ballet.

Ultimately, Kim seems to be saying too much. Therefore, in the big reveal which concludes Mr. Sign, the enigmatic tension that has been so effectively built is deflated rather than dissipated.

He posits that most of our relationships are predicated on clever choice of words. He points fingers at a society shrouded in artifice and deception, one that is perhaps xenophobic and subtly, unknowingly abusive. He tries to use mathematics to solve the happiness equation. Kim has figured this audience out.

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