Intense, high energy production depicting the brutalities of the world cruel world children grow up in.

There’s the old saying that ‘tough times don’t last, tough people do’. But shouldn’t we at least try to ensure that the world is in a better place for the next generation, precisely because we don’t want them to suffer in the same way we did?

Choreographer Botis Seva felt that in his bones over the last few years, watching a world of tragedy unfold before him, from the countless black lives lost in America, to the Grenfell Tower disaster. All this, while anticipating the birth of his son, and figuring out how best to bring up a child in a violent, brutal world like this, leading to his production BLKDOG.

BLKDOG is a dance production that eschews clarity and storyline, instead opting to draw audiences into a series of harrowing scenes that bring out the most nightmarish elements of the world today. Taking elements of hip hop and street dance, the performance begins in darkness, save for a spotlight on a single ‘child’ onstage, facing away from us as they are bombarded with wandering thoughts played over the speakers.

This supposed scene of innocence doesn’t last for long, and from here, BLKDOG shifts into its main ‘storyline’, taking us on a journey that leads us into both creepy moments and horrifying ones. Dressed in grey hoodies and sweatpants, the dancers from Far From The Norm move to Torben Lars Sylvest’s throbbing, heavy electronic beats, played so loud you feel them course through your body, perhaps suggesting the stress and physical effects of such trauma experienced.

These dancers represent youths navigating an uncertain world, their bodies often close to the ground, at times rapidly duckwalking across the stage, as if laying low to avoid being spotted, or laying flat, as if exhausted. There is almost a constant sense of tension felt in the dancers’ unity, moving together in almost perfect synchronisation, yet we wonder if individuality would then render them weak or punished in some way. There is a raw, explosive energy that is exuded from all the dancers, every action performed with gusto.

Harkening back to its title, BLKDOG evokes the metaphorical black dog of depression, with the ever-increasing mental health crisis in youths, particularly faced with the turbulent world today, and representing that through erratic movements, the fear in their eyes, and their anguished expressions. At the same time, its title might also take on racial undertones, almost like a slur, as we see the frenzied way the dancers attempt to turtle down to defend themselves from invisible enemies, clapping their hands over their ears, or worse – holding a finger up in the shape of a gun and shooting each other down, or even a simulated rape scene, with brutalising, quake-inducing sex.

BLKDOG is an abstract maze of memories, and amidst the violence, we also catch glimpse of more innocent childhood thrown into the mix. There are times dancers come zooming out from backstage on tiny tricycles, or they change into white costumes resembling Max from Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are, and seem to indicate that these are adults recalling moments of their youth. However, the stage always pits such innocence against violence, where the naivete is quickly corrupted by traumatising experiences.

Tom Visser’s lighting is precise, and rapidly shifts between total darkness and hyper-specific spots that make it feel as if the dancers are in a state of being pursued. A voiceover of Maya Angelou’s poem ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me’, initially a symbol of strength and resilience in the face of fear, takes on new meaning when it changes in tone, recoiling rather than resisting the horrors faced by the dancers. You viscerally see and feel their pain, and you fully understand how all of this can destroy a mind.

The biggest battle ultimately lies in a conflict with the self. None of these dancers ever truly ‘die’, but they are haunted by such memories, reliving the nightmare over and over in slightly different ways. Partly a journey of self-discovery through pain and loss of innocence, BLKDOG is also partly a journey of self-destruction as they attempt to resolve the lingering effects these experiences leave on their mind and body. By leaving its dancers in a final scene cradling invisible newborns, BLKDOG is ultimately a story of the need to face a troubled past with bravery, and learn to cope with it and even change it, in the hopes of carving out a better future for our children.

Featured Image Credit: John Pearson

BLKDOG played from 25th to 26th May 2023 at SOTA Drama Theatre. More information available here

Read our interview with Botis Seva here

The 2023 Singapore International Festival of Arts runs from 19th May to 4th June 2023. Tickets and full details of programme available here

Production Credits:

Botis Seva (United Kingdom) | Director & Choreographer

Torben Lars Sylvest | Music Composer

Tom Visser | Lighting Designer

Ryan Dawson Laight | Costume Designer

Far From The Norm Dance Artists (Singapore Edition): Jordan Douglas Victoria Shulungu Naïma Souhaïr Larissa Koopman Shangomola Edunjobi Joshua Wynter Rory Clarke