Benji Reid is one of the elder statesmen of British hip-hop dance-theatre, a pioneer in the field. Originally commissioned by Manchester International Festival 2023, Reid’s arresting Find Your Eyes takes his work to a new level. It is reflective yet immediate, merging movement, theatricality and live photography.
The stage of Sadler’s Wells East in London becomes a photographer’s studio into which we are invited to observe, listen and absorb what he and his astutely chosen cast of three are offering. But it is also a sacred space where Reid, via voiceover narration, bares his soul about the loss of his company, depression, alcoholism and a trio of aborted children.
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Reid takes the audience to dramatic and otherworldly realms
OLUWATOSIN DANIJU AND BENJI REID
Two large projection screens frame a central area from which Reid, often in shadow, operates. Assistants set up the shots, bringing on or removing tables, backdrops, high-intensity lighting and other equipment. The dancers — who also serve as models and actors — enter and quickly prepare to be snapped by Reid. He starts with striking black and white close-ups of the muscular Slate Hemedi’s fingers and toes, limbs and back before moving on to deceptively off-the-cuff portraits of Zuzanna Kijanowska and Salomé Pressac, either together or apart. Seconds later we see the results on the screens.
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Reid takes us to more dramatic and otherworldly realms. The images become more elaborate and in colour. Props are introduced as costume; lamps, a tangle of wires and chargers, or goldfish bowl helmets become headdresses. Kijanowska, it turns out, is a marvellously supple, strong pole dancer captured by Reid’s camera in flight. Hemedi is his alter ego, bare-chested and flour-dusted or metal-clad like a knight. Pressac, extraordinarily emotionally expressive, embodies oppressed womanhood and stands for Reid’s mother after she was struck down by a stroke.
A couple of times Reid forgoes the camera and unexpectedly guides the performers into movement. This doesn’t always convince but as a whole the show’s reach is high and deep.
★★★★☆
90min
Sadler’s Wells, to Jun 7, sadlerswells.com
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