SYNTREX, Vasiliki Papapostolou and Dani Harris-Walters - Resolution 2020
A kaleidoscope of light, sound and projection re-patterns the space in SYNTREX’s some silver burns. Situated within a sphere of infinite dimensionality, the cinematic landscape requires only two additions to fill the spatial void; Oscar Li and Olivia Grassot. Poised in disconnect, the stifled extensions of their limbs and isolated bodily glitches ache for a reaction, eventually found in a collision of bodies and energies - but far sooner than necessary. Weighted free-falling ensues, the duo intertwining through expansions and retractions, floating above the ground toward which they fall. Trance-inducing, the subconscious infiltration of the light resonance, from the projection, allows for relaxed receiving, leaving the viewer to enjoy the stimulating components, with little need to attach a heavy meaning to it.
Free Is The Possessed opens with Vasiliki Papapostolou on stage typing her thoughts, an internal dialogue projected on screen for all to view, seemingly no filter from the mind to the screen. Looking in on itself, the casual language references the process, the emotion and the weight of tonight’s performance (even though it is pre-recorded). What follows is a compartmentalised process of thoughts, from doll-like rigidity and balloon-headed figures to expressive turns and a final dance under the moonlight. Whilst well-executed in movement and textural quality, the work struggled to be comprehensible, possibly due to an overload of ideas.
As the final curtain of Resolution 2020 draws near, an unexpected shift in the programme witnesses Dani Harris-Walters’ Happy Father’s Day replace an injured Christopher Fonseca’s One is All. A favoured performance at the festival last year, Harris-Walters delivers in charismatic personality, as a stand-alone performer, navigating a realm of anecdotal sketch; spoken word, rap and break out moments of dynamic hip-hop movements tracing through each scene. Showered in youthful wit, the theatrical retelling of a sperm struggling to reach its potential and find the illusive ‘egg’ is fully fleshed out in its complexities and nuances, perfectly defining the festival in which it revisits; a coming of age story.
Location of performance: The Place, London.
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