The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2022 - Issue 32

Lisa Ogun’ was awed and inspired by the beautiful and enthralling performance of Far from Home by twins Kristina and Sadé’s Alleyne Dance company at The Place, London. biteperformance Alleyne Dance ma experienced by migrant families, as well as the impact on communities where migrants 'settle'. The consequences that the search for a better life has for those forced to seek it due to social or political devastations,” it was just that and some! What I witnessed felt more than 'emotion- al trauma'. The unique complexities people were seeking a home in an 'other' land expe- rience that can rip a soul, cause ostracisation and even mental ill health, it had me taken on a journey of heartache, seeking acceptance, maintaining kinship, and facing community ignorance, all through the great art form of dance. The sisters were the lead dancers of a six-peo- ple ensemble; the other four hailed from Ar- gentina, France, Greece and Italy and contrib- uted their personal stories to the R&D process of the performance. Also, the program in- formed us that an additional fifteen-people group of supporting dancers were 'non-pro- fessional movers recruited from the local community' made up the entire cast of this show. Alleyne Dance boasts a melange of move- ment performance skills, from circus skills to West African, Caribbean, hip hop and Kath- ak dance forms. It added to the stories' rich- ness, so I was excited to see what would speak to me with each dance form's presentation. What transpired did not disappoint! The stage opened to pitch-black darkness, and then a light entering stage right filtered through and highlighted some bodies lying on the floor on top of and attached to what looked like thick ship ropes lain in a fan-like shape. When the music started, the dancers lying down began to pull on the ropes beauti- fully, some being reeled in, giving me feelings of 'holding onto the community from over- seas'. This set spoke to my creative under- standing of the set-up of the performance as a whole. What ensued from thence were various sets to showcase stories of immigrants' challenges, with each leading dancer emulating a different character with their unique dance language, telling the story of trauma, community, chal- lenge, togetherness and peer support, with moments of light comedy. The whole perfor- mance beheld beautiful lines, twirls, tumbles, swoops and energy, and it was hard to take your eyes off the stage, even to blink. Each set was a mini-story in itself, telling the stories of each main character, some of trib- ulations, others of resilience leading to joy, interspersed with stories of the reactions of the citizens of the new lands performed by the supporting cast. They each had moments to shine, whether given a duet, an ensemble or, at times, mini solos; it was genuinely great to see this dance performance being an en- gagement of community participation. The supporting cast’s dancing was so passionate that you would never have known they were 'non-professional movers', which also gave testament to the Alleyne choreographers. Some of the sets I could watch over again are what I would call the 'hand-hold-clap'. It morphed into a 'hand-hold-clap-stamp' piece representing the concept of language and the difficulties of grasping a new language whilst navigating the new culture, in addition to finding familiar people native to one's home country amongst the new territory, speaking the same language. From one dancer 'talking'