Imbalance, Joli Vyann

Fusing together Circus with Dance, Joli Vyann introduces a collaboration with international choreographer Jonathan Lunn in the performance of 'Imbalance'. The hour long piece immerses us into something we're more than familiar with, technology and the obsessive relationship we have with it. Leaving us to ask ourselves whether our lives are 'in' or 'out' of balance. 

The duet explores the impact it has on our lives, the relationships we have with one another as much as ourselves. The duet recognised the fragile thread of a couple's relationship, their highs and lows, and capturing the rare moments of beauty in a life shared in mutual respect, support and love. There is a real sense of distraction with the dancers often drawing their attention back to technological objects, whether that's a phone or laptop. I felt like this piece often drew on the personal relationship I have with technology, you could reference to specific points in the piece if you were kind to yourself to allow that to happen.

Their fusion of the Circus and Dance techniques accompanied each other perfectly, it was memorising to see how they worked through various tricks as well as embedding the contemporary dance style to work with their explorations. At some times some of the positions were wobbly, therefore you couldn't help but worry that someone was about to hurt themselves (thankfully nobody didn't). Their play with the various sound scopes helped us to understand their emotional journey as well as the movement and main thread of their relationship with technology. Without this sound scope it wouldn't be as fluid and easy to understand that's for sure. 

From reading the programme notes it is understand that their personal experiences had a huge impact and involvement in the choreography created for the Imbalance. 

There was a focus on the topic of cyberbullying, something which has become increasingly prominent in our society. They thought that this was important to touch on in relation to the main thread of the piece, ensuring to be sensitive to the topic by using narrative voice that spoke of personal experiences of cyberbullying. They undertook some intensive research for this section, to ensure that they managed to capture the subject sensitively as well as subjectively. I personally liked how they put the stage in darkness with the only light source coming from the technology  itself.

There was definitely some parts that I felt had the perfect narrative before throwing us back into a high intensity of movement and energy that didn't particularly match well for me watching the piece. I felt like further exploration of the piece could align their thread of sections a lot better and understandable.

I thoroughly did enjoy watching performers Maelie Palomo and Jan Patzke who are technically incredible artists that managed to capture the audience visually with their flow and energy throughout a demanding performance piece.

Imbalance definitely left me wondering more about my relationship with technology..