“It’s all allowed,” was one of the mantras of the great Adrian Howells, who died in March this year and who was one of the collaborators – alongside Ian Johnston and Gary Gardiner – on this quietly tender and intimate show. There are white footprints stuck on the floor of the performance space, but this two-hander examining who is and who is not allowed to dance – to make performance and make a performance of themselves – has Howells’ delicate fingerprints all over it.
Early on, Gary makes a proscriptive list of all the people who are not allowed to dance. The list includes those with no rhythm, those with missing arms or legs, and people like Ian, who has a learning disability. Gary’s contained self-confidence is constantly set against Ian’s beaming shyness. Gary is always speaking for Ian, but when the latter starts to dance, his body does all the talking in the most expressive way – Gary seems self-conscious and uptight.
This is such a lovely piece of work: simple, generous-spirited, vulnerable and entirely without side. But it’s not unsophisticated. From its opening moments, when the two men stand before us, dapper in waistcoats and bow-ties, it challenges perceptions; it makes us question how we look at people both on stage and in daily life, and constantly asks, who brings what to a collaboration or, indeed, any friendship or relationship?
There are two particularly exquisite moments: one when Ian entwines his toes with Gary’s; another when the two men dance together, their bodies so weighted against each other that if one was to detach himself the other would fall down. By the end, we are all aching to dance too, and of course we do: inexpertly, entirely without technique, but with such joy and abandon. Because it’s all allowed – sometimes we need a show like this, and a little nudge, to remember it.
• Until 8 November. Box office: 020-7223 2223. Venue: Battersea Arts Centre, London
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