The partnership of Colin and Simon is a compelling one. Dissonant, aggressive, intellectual, caring and playful: the dichotomies which these two performers create forms an interesting and layered work, an experience for audiences to step into, reflect upon and revisit.

“Because We Care” is a collaboration between Colin Poole (UK) and Simon Ellis (NZ), two independent solo artists. This work was developed to scrutinise the male friendship, exemplifying the process of connecting and trusting another human being. After an initial collaboration in 2007, their partnership “Colin, Simon and I” formed. This work is the next in an ongoing conversation about life and the development of this relationship.

The slapping of flip flops, squeaking chairs, and weighted glances charge this work from the beginning. For the next hour, the space feels loaded, pushed and probed. Colin and Simon manage to navigate the outer reaches of their own limits, systematically challenging ours, walking the fine line between care and aggression, but always with a sense of play. These dancers set up then desecrate boundaries, a tug-o-war of attentiveness and disregard. The wave-like structure of the phrases drifting between one point and it’s polar opposite in moments.

Implicit messages pepper the work: power struggles, compliance, joy and connection in moving forward, yet all retain a very personal and intuitive cohesiveness.  

Colin and Simon aimed to create space for interpretation in this work, and to this end, they were successful. The questions that arise from seemingly simple situations, eg manipulating a child-sized cloth doll with everything from hands to teeth, are as diverse as the audience members, however never fail to stimulate a reaction. In fact, the audience in this work is an acknowledged third person: witnessing, reacting to, and creating a platform for these performers to butt against. It’s not the virtuosity of movement that is the compelling factor in this work, it’s the limit these performers are willing to take within their own skin, physically and emotionally.

I appreciate the sense of exploration and vulnerability in this work. Two dancers of lesser honesty could not have commanded so much emotional investment, and I greatly look forward to the potential for another instalment.