Nigel Charnock has long been a virtuoso deviant on the British dance scene, with the foulest mouth, the most uninhibited confessional spirit, the most confrontational attitude. Recently appointed director of Helsinki City Theatre Dance Company, his new piece for them is, disappointingly, just what you'd expect.
Intelligence of the Heart is basically a cross between a variety show and psychological role-play, with an all-singing, all-talking, all-dancing cast that riot through a string of transgressive and emotional numbers. They first appear in flamboyant fancy dress, outfitted like 18th-century goths with matted wigs, garish makeup, frock coats, chains and crosses. As they preen through a vaguely baroque dance, they exchange elaborate pick-up lines, screech obscenities at each other and engage in a bigoted debate on world religion.
Predictably, the dancers shed their fancy clothes and mannerisms to engage with more intimate, risky material. They form into couples to battle issues of love, sex, violence and evasion. They face the audience and belt out passionate song lyrics, they collude in ecstatic groups and fall away into keening despair. Finally, naked, they walk away from us into blinding light.
In case any viewers try to remain detached, the performers periodically stride into the audience, smacking victims with lipsticked kisses, arranging post-performance rendezvous, inviting us to sniff their discarded clothes.
Although the troupe's dance skills are patchy, they boast some startlingly good singers and, even speaking in English, they're brave and intelligent actors. Yet it's hard to know how much their performance owes to Charnock's directing skills and how much to their own talents. Though Intelligence has some funny, arresting material, as a show it is a lazy and self-derivative mish-mash.
There are no revelations to be had, no argument to follow, and too much of the material (particularly the choreography) looks as if it has been dumped on to the stage at the last minute. Charnock has a strong, interesting company with which to work, and he owes it to them, as well as to himself, to come up with more than a rewrite of his own act.
