Strange and familiar, perverted and liberating; it’s hard to know where to begin to describe Impermance’s Sexbox. It is an exploration through dance, a celebration through physicality and an aberration through senses, free and terrible in equal measure.
The piece was developed from the collaborative working of Impermanence with the electro music of Ursula Bogner, and seems to be a visualisation of Bogner’s ideas of sex. Wilhelm Reich’s theory that a healthy discharge of sexual energy was the crux of human salvation is ingrained within both audio and visual aspects of the performance, as Bogner became fascinated with Reich’s ideas and reflected them in her compositions.
Impermanence perform with that sexual energy, but also with energy that is then sexualised which feels both alien and darkly familiar. All movement is either a lead up to or a come-down from this peak and is mesmerising to see the exploration of these sometimes perversions through exquisite choreography. Desire and need become the same thing; there is no one without the other, and no reason to deny it.
There are solo pieces, duets and group numbers, exploring sexuality in a way that makes ‘shame’ seem like an ugly word. Movement and intention are impeccable and unrestrained. With the electro music and hyper modern costume, it is like looking through a window onto an alternate plane where there are no rules except pleasure.
Humans are complicated and so are their pleasures. Sexbox somehow manages to make some sense out of them in a provocative and completely unapologetic way.
22nd-26th August, 8pm