Impressive body control and expert physicality underwhelms with an unclear narrative.
A Hip-Hop dance theatre production looking to surface women of colour’s experiences and journeys, Born to Exist is the third part of Joseph Toonga’s nationally acclaimed Hip-Hop dance trilogy. The inspiration comes from both Joseph Toonga’s personal experience of being solely brought up by black women and through research he conducted.
As with the previous two works in the trilogy, Born To Exist brought together many respectable creatives with lighting design by Simisola Majekodunmi, an original score from Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante and dramaturgy by Peggy Olislaegers. Born to Manifest and Born to Protest have toured the UK and internationally to critical acclaim and I will be intrigued to see how Born to Exist is received.
Undeniably the performers, Paris Crossley, Aisha Webber, Amanda De Souza had incredible control of their body movement, imbuing a raw intensity and passion into each movement that was further highlighted by the jerky measured hip hop choreography. Seeing the amount of energy and power pushed into each minimal movement was incredible and the hour long production showcased the trio’s skill in this area.
However despite the incredible dancers, the dramatic lighting, and interesting premise, I struggled to stay engaged with the piece. Whether this was from a lack of explanation as to the scenes we’d witness (an expansion of the programme to address the specific elements we watch and what inspired them would add a level of comprehension and engagement to the performance) or from my own lack of experience with hip hop as an storytelling device – I consistently found my attention waning as I struggled to comprehend what I was witnessing.
There were a number of notable events during the production, usually taking the form of some words shouted at the audience, that I found difficult to place or contextualise. The one event I managed to place in today’s events was when the music seemed to incorporate gunshots and I was immediately reminded of the too many to mention, despicable and unfathomable crimes against ethnic minorities by law enforcers in various countries, notably Chris Kaba in the UK most recently. However whether the audience was intended to draw this connotation I remain unsure.
I honestly wanted to love this piece as there was such a good set-up to it, whether through an interview I conducted, items I read before attending or from the initial thrill when I saw the lone dancer on stage at the beginning but I found myself lost and wanting throughout. However, multiple audience members leaving the show could be heard to exclaim how empowering, engaging and expressive it was so I remain hopeful that this reviewer simply misunderstood the production and the story it was telling and wish the production the best as it tours the UK.