Choreographers and Directors: Daniel Hay-Gordon and El Perry
If every show started with a performance by a dancing pantomime horse, the world might be a happier place. In the case of dance theatre company Thick & Tight, that horse is orange, wearing an overly long red tie and talks out of his backside. That’s right, this One Horseman of the Apocalypse is a panto horse interpretation of Donald Trump.
It may not be subtle, but it is ridiculously silly fun. Hoofing (literally) to the Trammps’ Disco Inferno but with the chorus of “Burn, baby, burn” swapped out with Trump’s climate-defying “Drill, baby, drill”, Daniel Hay-Gordon (Thick) and El Perry (Tight) put the audience at ease. The night is not going to be a sombre evening of contemporary dance, this opening work tells us, but a repertoire of performers who have something to say in whatever form they desire.
And that allows some of the more serious pieces to shine in context. Annie Edwards performs a suite of solo dances to a score inspired by the songs of birds who are, or are becoming, endangered in the UK. Perry emulates a grass blowing in the wind, naturally growing and pollinating, unlike its mown siblings in lawns and golf courses.
Diversity in nature is well represented, even with a couple of subtly animated models of seagulls chilling out on the beach to the tune of Engelbert Humperdinck singing Lesbian Seagull – a cover version of a song written in response to a study about observed same-sex behaviour among gulls in the 1970s, the first academic observation of homosexuality in animals.
But diversity within the human realm is also celebrated. In Dust, Jahmarley Bachelor, a genderqueer vision in lilac robes, performs a fascinating routine in tribute to the uniquely eccentric queer raconteur Quentin Crisp, who famously refused to do any housework (“After the first four years, the dirt doesn’t get any worse.”) The involvement of Camberwell Incredibles, an arts collective of practising and learning diverse artists, demonstrates that visions of diversity aren’t just limited to LGBTQ+ people – anybody who society deems to be “other” has just as much art to give to the world.
Hay-Gordon opens the second act with the closest the evening comes to solemnity, his solo piece remembering moments of physical connection, danced to Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto. And the longer pieces in this act maintain something of that air. Azara Meghie performs a powerful piece in Baldwin’s Room, a tribute to the essayist and activist James Baldwin, touching on the prejudice he faced as both a Black man and a queer one.
In contrast, Luigi Nardone’s leopard-print catsuit-wearing dictator in The Leopard may seem a little more ridiculous. However, the choice of Ravel’s sombre La valse lends a sinister edge to his performance, providing meaningful counterpoints to the jollity of his sequin-clad attire.
All these pieces are introduced with captions and audio descriptions of what we are about to witness. These are provided for accessibility reasons, but that accessibility extends to all comers: it is rare to understand quite so deeply what contemporary choreography is representing. Many companies opt instead to make the audience work hard to try and understand their point. All it takes is a sentence or two beforehand, as here, and we are all drawn in.
Of course, some sequences just need a bit of explanation because they’re so preposterous. Hay-Gordon and Perry, as two flies stuck in the capsule inhabited by Katy Perry in its brief sojourn into space, would be baffling without any introduction. Here, their short interlude is as ridiculous and entertaining as the pair’s panto horse opener. The finale sees Hay-Gordon, Perry, Bachelor and members of the disabled arts organisation Corali Dance Company don cockroach costumes to celebrate the one insect that will, when we have destroyed the diversity within humanity and the ecosystem, outlive us all.
From the profound to the profane, from tap-dancing horses to the struggle of living out and proud, Natural Behaviour spreads itself across the spectrum of what diversity actually means. Part dance recital, part variety show, Thick & Tight have created an evening that speaks to everybody.
Continues until 7 June 2025
