Lived Fiction Review
4th September 2024
Stopgap was conceived by dancer and Artistic Director Vicki Balaam in 1995. It became the first touring dance company to employ learning-disabled dancers, physically-disabled dancers and non-disabled dancers.
Lived Fiction was facilitated by Stopgap’s Co-Artistic Director Lucy Bennett, and was written and devised by The Company’s Deaf, Disabled, neurodivergent and non-disabled creatives.
We are aware that it is a relaxed performance and as we enter, a note on access is both spoken and appears as surtitles on a gauze at the back of the performance area. There are ear defenders, sunglasses and audio description available at every stage of the performance, and audience members are free to leave and re-enter the auditorium freely. We are told that there is no correct way to be an audience member of Lived Fiction – you do what you need to do. This immediately feels like a safe and caring space.
“Lived Fiction is an important, moving and sensual performance by incredible dancers”
Throughout the performance, there is a creative, poetic audio description, delivered live on stage by the company’s Autistic Access Artist Lily Norton (they/them). Their voice is so calming, and words so beautiful, they could make a fortune recording meditation or sleep podcasts. Perhaps they already do.
On stage, there are eight orange chairs – four on either side of the stage. Norton sits, stage left, at a desk with a laptop and a microphone. Six dancers enter and they take it in turns to walk from one side to the other whilst they describe themselves and their disabled status, whilst being accompanied by Michael Nyman, A Zed and Two Noughts-esque music. They are wearing mostly utilitarian workhouse-style outfits, with the exception of Nadenh Poan who dons a gold corset.
The cast includes world-leading dancers Poan (wheelchair dancer) and Hannah Sampson (person with Downs Syndrome) as well as Monique (Mo’) Dior Jarrett, who joins the company as a Disabled performer and an assistant Artistic Director under Stopgap’s Future Leaders initiative. Jarrett is joined by Jannick Moth and non-disabled dancers Christian Brinklow and Emily Lue-Fong.
The first dance is a collective dance to an upbeat track and energetic light sequences. The dancers translate Nadenh’s body, which we are told is a way of sharing others’ way of moving. Stopgap’s website describes Translating as ‘…the skill of finding a correlative version of a movement by someone who has a different physicality to you.’ Each dancer has a self-affirming attitude and wears it with confidence. Sampson’s brilliant sassiness particularly catches our eye. They tell us “we don’t give a damn about being invited to the table – we invite you to ours instead”. This was an eye-catching, evocative piece that I would have liked to see more of.
Alongside group dances, we are also treated to three duets – each one comprising one disabled and one able-bodied dancer. We are transfixed. The poses and postures created by the dancers, exploring each other’s movements, create beautiful shadows on the walls of the venue at times. The respect that each dancer shows to one another is stunning.
Lived Fiction is an important, moving and sensual performance by incredible dancers that will keep you transfixed for the whole 90 minutes. The audience clearly agreed as the performers received a standing ovation.
Rhea Shepherd
Lived Fiction is touring the UK. For more information click here
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