Horses dance review: Whimsical, medieval romp
Snap Elastic recruits eager participants for a free evening of unpredictable outdoor shenanigans
Snap Elastic is an artist collective known for producing daring, unconventional performance works. The company’s latest production, Horses, is a participatory dance, written with outdoor performance in mind and delivered with medieval flare. This free, unticketed event is inspired by the 1800s German novella Michael Kohlhaas, which tells the true story of a 16th-century horse dealer's struggles against the Saxon aristocracy.
The piece begins with three of Snap Elastic’s resident performers and members of its community cast ceremonially parading down the steps of Garnethill Park, inviting the audience to disregard the world around them and join in on creating a feeling of pageantry against a modern backdrop. The crowd, an eclectic mixture of adults, children and bemused (though seemingly entertained) passersby, are largely happy to partake in the frivolities. Balls are tossed through hoops and spectators are paraded around in wheelbarrows, with the cast intermittently pausing the games to resume the dramatics.
This all takes place on a sunny Saturday evening, the buzz of Glasgow refusing to quieten down for the performers, and the cast do a stellar job of blocking out the world around them. Three men drinking Tennent’s Super on a nearby bench look nonplussed as the audience takes part in a giant game of tug of war, and dancer Kemono Lebe-Riot gets a good laugh as he apologises for the ‘commercial break’ as an ambulance speeds by with its sirens blaring. Though it’s not immediately clear what is happening at any given time, and the opportunities for participation are eclipsed by lengthy bouts of interpretive dance, Horses succeeds in providing audience members with an hour of free entertainment they won’t forget in a hurry.
Horses, Queen’s Park, Glasgow, Sunday 2 August; reviewed at Garnethill Park, Glasgow.