Xe (zi:) SoBo Productions, Germany (1 hr 45)
This show by SoBoProductions is an trans-disciplinary dance and film installation, an original exploration of gender identity created in collaboration with the artists.
There are seven parts to Xe [zi:], which can be watched in any order as we move from room to room. It may make sense, however, to start with the Opening and end with The Gathering, which brings all the dancers together.
The other parts are Lost in Translation, The Living Room, Deep Blue Sea, Re-Birth and Llewellyn Mnguni. The basic thread linking them is language, behaviour and ethics.
In each segment, filmed at the Mannheim Stromwerk, a solo, duo or group of dancers play out issues of how gender is interpreted, realised and influenced.
The Living Room is a visceral and boisterous exploration of gender stereotypes and conformities. In pink, Marco Labellarte’s physical excertion contrasting sharply with Cecilia Ponteprimo’s restraint in blue.
In Deep Blue Sea, Miriam Marki is naked, stretching, submerged in water, sliding, haunting and halting. Shapes, sensitivity, and sensuality characterise her practice and movement.
For Llewellyn Mnguni, queer femininity is explored through personal reflection and controlled movement in his self-titled segment. The athletic and the sissy, the physicality and the passive. Male, female. Both, neither.
Lorenzo Ponteprimo in Projections declaims questions about binary expectations of gender and contemporary definitions of difference. He looks like a horror clown or death metal mask.
If we accept that the traditional gender binary is outdated, where do we go from here? What does ‘male’ and ‘female’ look like? Are these labels even necessary?
For Anthony Selwyn in Gothamfotografia’s Lost in Translation, the contrast between freedom of gender expression and societal prejudice explodes into violence.
Xe [zi:] is a powerful immersive and interactive dance film that confronts those limitations and contradictions.
Words are just that; in Darja Reznikova’s publicity for the show she plays the sounds they make. Xe, Ze, Ve, E, Te, Sie, Thon, Tey, Ey, Per, Peh, Fae…
Fot the dancers in Xe [zi:], their segments are deeply personal, complex and rooted in what society expects.
It’s expected that the audience will choose their own path through the films and rooms, curating their own personal journey.
By The Gathering all the dancers (bar Mnguni) come together in a celebratory and cathartic exploration of ‘being’.
Felix Chang (whose Re-birth involves a literal struggle with words , João Kreth d’Orey, and sound designer Sabio Janiak complete the artist roster, each adding a piece to the rich tapestry that makes up Xe [zi:].
Xe [zi:] can be found on the C arts digital platform and was reviewed as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
4 stars.