Following on from 2022’s Metamorphosis, which is currently available to view on Amazon Prime, Incarnation is the new solo show from dancer Maria Caruso.
The show opens with a short video piece detailing how Caruso struggled with her creativity and found herself exploring it in the new piece alongside some personal trauma.
Once the curtains rises we find Caruso gagged with tape and tied hands and feet to a chair. The contortions to free herself form the first part of Incarnation.
Caruso is both actor and dancer, storytelling in movement, emotion, and a deeply intimate style. Graceful, but daring. Feminine, but fierce.
Billed a ‘dance theatre installation’, Incarnation is personal and private in many senses, only opening the door to the audience under carefully curated terms.
Like Metamorphosis, the new show sees Caruso shed and adopt new skins via costume as she progresses through a cathartic reconnection with herself and the world.
There are moments that seem to indicate the burst of life of the butterfly, others that envelop the cast of depression. A duet with a mirror indicates the moment of self-doubt and destruction.
Utilising voiceovers for a sequence of letters (not entirely successful for such a powerful piece driven by the silence of the performer), we are led into an interior monologue into the light.
There is a spotlight that, stubbornly, half-illuminates the audience. In a space as large as Drury Lane, it is quite a feat to have nowhere to hide, although I suspect this effect lessens in the upper levels.
Metamorphosis showed Caruso’s other selves as hanging dresses through which she dances and walks. In Incarnation, they are gathered in a rack, restrained and confined.
Caruso’s work is challenging to consume, and the story is often just out of reach. Yet, the story is compelling, and whatever you take from it, it is something that resonates.
In Incarnation the sense of loss is stifling. Creative, yes, but also the personal – Caruso mentions miscarriage in her video introduction.
A sense of purpose, then. A body that can do remarkable things, but not the ordinary one it was designed for.
It is not as visceral a performance as Metamorphosis. If anything, Incarnation has few moments where physical control is lost. This Maria Caruso is more measured. In pain, yes. In fear, yes. But not unaware.
I applaud Caruso’s ability to open herself up to scrutiny through her choreography. I appreciate the athletic talent and the emotional bond with her audience.
For me, the void between what Caruso wants to tell us and what we take away is just a little too wide. I would recommend seeing both shows if you can, to get a sense of the full picture.
Maria Caruso – Incarnation is at Theatre Royal Drury Lane until 3 Oct.
Her Metamorphosis can be viewed on Amazon Prime.
For more on her work, visit here.
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Image credit: Paulo Lieber