A poignant exploration of the expression of self, this dance film by Akram Khan & Naaman Azhari, is framed by themes of patriarchy, queerness, cultural expectations, and self-expression, contextualised within the uncertainty of an evolving coronavirus world.

Shape, form and movement are conveyed in just a few drawn lines using rotoscope technology, filling seemingly empty space with heavy emotions and life. The film powerfully flicks between scenes of Karim and Nick in their youth and adulthood, juxtaposing their tentatively rebellious friendship hidden from their fathers – the upholders and enforcers of culture and patriarchy – and a resigned adult experience of life, movement and love. As the two men dance to the soundtrack of a ventilator, anxiety is heightened in the viewer as we anticipate the climax, which carries the film to a gut-wrenching and heartbreaking closing scene, confronted by physical and metaphoric death. Not only does Karim mourn for the death of an old friend, but for the death  of a life that they could have lived, of people they could have been if they weren’t shackled by fear and bounded by cultural and familial expectation. Underlying the film is a story of brotherhood, of a forbidden queer love shrouded in shame, just like the art of dance. Through dance and movement, the boys express their queerness and embody the internal conflict between expressing authenticity and being tied to expectations that deplete their true sense of self. Expression is continuously denied to them as they are forced to conform to identities they don’t relate to, and dance comes to represent both their difference and their internalised shame, serving as a means of catharsis for the pair.

The film will have you confronting uncomfortable questions: who do we live our lives for?; how do we assert ourselves when we are raised to believe we are not individuals but part of a collective whole?; how do we navigate self-expression within frameworks of toxic familial love? The film will remind you that living in misalignment is tantamount to having your life taken from you; that fulfilling someone else’s expectations of who you should be makes you no more than a breathless puppet.

Year of Production: 2021
Running Time: 17 mins
Choreographer: Akram Khan
Writer: Naaman Khan
Director: Naaman Khan
Animator: Naaman Khan
Producer/Production Company: Akram Khan Company

| Check out more from Manchester International Festival | See more from Akram Khan Company / Naaman Azhari |

| Reviewed by Inaya Hussain | See more Off/Stage review bytes on IG |