Complexity Of Belonging

You know when you’re in the presence of pure class. It shines through; in texture, in courage, in unapologetic passion and intellect. From very early on in Anouk van Dijk and Falk Richter’s Complexity Of Belonging it becomes apparent that you are about to witness high concept art-making at its finest.

On one level, we’ve seen much of this before: dance and theatre merging, movement, music, text and video all working together. You could even apply the clichés inter-disciplinary, multimedia and cross-platform if you wished. However, these would utterly fail to convey the impact of this rich, confronting and at times hilarious work.

At its core it explores what its title suggests, the rapidly evolving/devolving nature of family, community and relationships in a world being reshaped by technology and changing social norms. By weaving together the nine individual narratives of the performers Complexity Of Belonging creates a deeply layered vision of isolation and ‘belonging’ in an obviously atomised world.

It’s easy to highlight Lauren Langlois’ brilliantly comic bit about ‘the perfect man’ as the most memorable moment but James Vu Anh Pham’s unsettling and savagely honest deconstruction of latent racism is probably the most powerful.

In short, Complexity Of Belonging proves just how rewarding dance and theatre can be. It’s a work that makes no excuses for its, erm, complexity.

Complexity Of Belonging, Southbank Theatre, The Sumner to 25 Oct.