Dance / Reviews
Review: Holly Thomas: Half Light, Arnolfini – ‘A beautiful and intelligent work’
Half Light is a dance show unlike others. Performed in the softly-lit round at Arnolfini, Holly Thomas’ lived experience of visual impairment and parenting is expressed in a sort of physical soundscape, as footsteps and voice combine into symphony.
The piece tells the story of Twilight, and chronicles her journey from child, to woman, to mother. Twilight, we learn, is comprised of three defined sections: civil, nautical and astronomical. Each of these atmospheric states is separated by six degrees of sunset.
The story of Twilight the woman is told in reference to twilight the phenomenon, matched against its three stages.
Two dancers in close proximity, standing facing each, with a sense of playful challenge, eyes locked on each other and legs bent in a wide, wrestling stance.
Our narrator, Douglas Walker, provides integrated audio description, and plays Twilight’s son as a grown man. Luke Antysz performs as Twilight’s father, her son and the landscape. Finally, Ruby Portus plays Twilight’s mother, her sister, the landscape and a salamander.
Twilight is an intrepid and curious child, who retains this spirit into womanhood. Visual impairment is treated with a refreshing fondness, as Twilight scurries over rocks, feeling her way.
Three dancers, eyes closed, wearing pastel colours, crouch, one behind the other. The 2nd and 3rd dancers lay a hand on the dancer in front of them, sensing each other through touch. Lit from above by a single white light, there is a quiet and calm in the dancers’ demeanour.
In some sense, Twilight feels her way both literally and metaphorically throughout the narrative. The familial relations are expressed tenderly and gorgeously, for which all performers deserve enormous credit.
When Twilight slips and descends into what is either a literal or symbolic cave, she encounters Portus as Salamander, whose sleek physicality as this animal is extremely impressive and captivating.
In a dark studio space, three dancers stand in unison, eyes closed, one foot extended in front of them. To the left Dougie, our narrator, watches on.
By ensconcing this work within the natural and unstoppable context of planetary motion, we see ageing and growth as a soft insistence. In this way, the work speaks to me of acceptance, and of peace.
Half Light is a beautiful and intelligent work, in which rich soundscape and grand metaphor guide the audience gently through a life of visual impairment, of womanhood and of humanity’s relationship with nature.
Follow Holly Thomas @holly_thomas_dance.
All photos: Vonalina Cake
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
