one4review | On 17, Aug 2025

Dancehall Blues, directed and choreographed by David Bolger, transports audiences into a surreal dancehall where dreams and nightmares blur. Two performers, through powerful and precise movement, create an atmosphere that is by turns unsettling, hopeful, and deeply human.

The opening caught me completely off guard. As two masked dancers in white boiler suits entered to an industrial soundtrack, I briefly wondered if I was at the wrong performance. A large disco ball swung across the stage, casting shards of light as the dancers moved around the stage, their bodies pushed, pulled, and prodded as though caught in a dialogue without words. It was dark, atmospheric, and deliberately disorienting.

The mood shifted dramatically when a curtain revealed the interior of a house, with faint sounds of laughter and chatter spilling in from outside. Here, a female dancer began an operatic striptease, peeling away the boiler suit to reveal more traditional attire. In that transformation, the body became human again, softer and more expressive. Her partner soon followed, slipping the mask to reveal a face beneath, and together they embarked on a playful, flirtatious solo and duet performance. Their chemistry was palpable, and the choreography—especially a sequence involving a chair—was exquisitely crafted.

This production by CoisCéim Dance Theatre is at once captivating and confounding. The dancers are exceptional, and the choreography is both inventive and technically stunning. Yet, I found myself struggling to connect the industrial, dystopian opening with the more intimate and playful sequences that followed. Perhaps I had taken the title Dancehall Blues and the image of the disco ball too literally, but the piece unfolded in ways I hadn’t anticipated—sometimes to its benefit, sometimes to its detriment.

The audience response on the night was overwhelmingly positive, and for those who relish surrealist dance theatre, this is a must-see. For me, though, while I admired its daring and beauty, the throughline never fully clicked—leaving me impressed, but not entirely satisfied.

***1/2

Reviewed by Lynn

Assembly@Dance Base

12th – 24th

14:40 (1 hr)