elixir

a dance performance by xinia alderson

going to dance shows is something i ordinarily wouldn't do, not because i'm opposed to it, it just never crosses my mind to do so. it's only because i'm friends with a dancer that i've been exposed to dance (mostly contemporary), either by seeing her shows or by going to shows with her. this show in particular was important to me, as it was the first show produced by xinia's own dance company.

the show was inspired by zines, specifically it was inspired by a zine that i made about love, and there are some direct and indirect references to it throughout. although i feel it was more of a starting off point, an idea which evolved into something different over time. the show itself encapsulates so much of what a young life can be: silly, sad, sexy, awkward, getting drunk, making a dick of yourself, maru the cat (?), and hard out pashing (both people and inanimate objects). i suppose the most accurate thing that i can say about this show is that it was idiosyncratic. every piece was just another one of xinia's little mannerisms (sometimes literally). it was obvious to me that she put a lot of herself into it, and allowed each of the dancers to bring their own personalities to it also.

the surprising thing for me was how funny it was, and i was even crying with laughter at one point. i found the contrast between the goofiness and "profesh" dancing really hilarious. they'd go from contemporary to ballet to hip hop to [another type of dance why can i not think of others] to how you would dance in da club or in your room if no one was watching.

as well as the live dancers, there was a live band who played throughout the show. they did a cover of a mountain goats song 'broom people', which the dancers stood and just listened to (which seemed really nice), occasionally singing in unison to the chorus. felt really joyous. there was also a movie which was projected onto a sheet, of the dancers, just playing around and being goofy. made you feel even closer to the performance via feeling like you know the dancers themselves.

this show in particular made me think differently about a human body and what it can do/what it is for. bodies are not so much piles of meat and bone, but more akin to water or air or anything that flows. especially when you see dancers putting their bodies together, it transcends anything sexual and instead becomes about beauty, skin and movement, the spaces between things, fluidity.

everything in this show is 100% xinia, and watching it as her friend made me incredibly happy and proud of what she has achieved. me and my friends could barely contain our laughter, excited whispers, inappropriate clapping and at one point an even more inappropriate mexican wave.

xinia, we know what the inside of your head looks like now, it is funny and a little creepy but we like it.

(the programme was a zine, real good)