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NOWhere

performed at the Place theatre, 2019

Choreographer: Greta Gauhe in collaboration with the dancers

Dancers:
Hannah Adams John Chan
Ghost Chan Flavien Cornilleau Marta Stepien

Composer: Andy Trewren

Costume: Frances Morris

Light designer: Michael Mannion

Tutor:
Sue MacLennan

Music credits

Title:NOWhere

Artist: Andy Trewren

Taking an autobiographical perspective, the Follow Through Collective examines issues of racial and sexual discrimination and harassment. Surprisingly, the dancers from four different countries and two different continents encounter numerous similarities in their narratives. They deal with those experiences in a gripping interplay of performance, spoken word and dance. Supported by an on-stage musician, NOWhere is both a daring attempt to openly discuss very personal stories as well as an appeal to the audience to do alike. Can we together, in a spirit of mutual trust and honesty, defeat daily societal persecution? #CANWE?n

Reviews:

NOWhere by Greta Gauhe brings us swinging balls of light and audible clicks: each of the six dancers switches their bulb on in turn, red cords hanging down in visual symmetry. Conversations about identity and discrimination are exchanged in layers of tuneful, overlapping voices in different languages.

Gauhe makes unobvious, strangely-affecting choreographic choices to present the most cohesive group work I have seen in a while. One dancer, weak or dying, back arched towards the ground, is propped up tenderly by the rest. The men and women are entirely interchangeable, creating a neutral shared identity, three in orange T-shirts, three in green.

I love the more combative material too: the face slapping and the many hands covering one of the dancers. Extended laughter turns to crying as Andy Trewren’s live piano builds in intensity behind. With a childlike sense of play and adventure, motifs of climbing and supporting each other bring a beautiful poignancy. I’m so sad when the final lightbulb is extinguished."

Izzy Rogers (danceartjournal)

"Exploring the issue of a range of different types of discrimination – from racism to sexual harassment, Gauhe conveys the nuances of prejudice on an individual and everyday basis.

Gauhe playfully yet effectively explores ideas of micro-aggressions (constant small acts of discrimination) through a pair of dancers persistently blowing another across the stage.

The image of all the dancers crowding round grabbing, touching and pulling a lone dancer stays in my mind – an unapologetic account of the isolation and violence of sexual harassment."

Stella Rousham

"NOWhere was an excellent piece of work that bravely explored the tricky territory of community, prejudice and multiple moments of harassment. The piece worked with the group very well, forming a stringensemble that really gave us the opportunity to see each of the different characters at the same time as seeing them from a clear sense of community."-

Sue MacLennan, Head of Choreography at the London Contemporary Dance School

Pictures by Camilla Greenwell