Swinging from the chandeliers

It all started in the early Sixties, in New York, of course. The clear delineations between artists and dancers were broken down and the Judson Dance Theatre came into being. A dance troupe operating in the spirit of its time, rebelling against the conventions of modern dance and ballet – a community where trained dancers and untrained poets, musicians, visual artists and film makers alike came together to conceive collectively created dance. Today at the Hayward Gallery, the delineations between artist and dancer are tested once again, but this time the dancers are you.

For many, a trip to an exhibition is very much a spectator sport. Move: Choreographing You destroys this convention by getting the viewers to engage with the installations and conquer their inhibitions at the same time. We are squeezed through tight spaces, dazzled and roasted by flashbulbs, conceived, germinated and reborn, swung through rings and ropes, see-ed and saw-ed and hula-hooped around the gallery in what surely doubles as a workout as well as dose of culture. Definitely not an exhibition enjoyed best alone.

Once clambering simian-style over objects wears thin, Isaac Julien’s mesmerising film TEN THOUSAND WAVES offers some less physical, but no less disorientating, respite. Nine large screens hang round a dark room as a three pronged narrative is played out, shifting across all screens – forcing spectator to move and reorientate their perspective to follow the video’s flow. One might be stationary, but the feeling of motion is most certainly there.

Reflecting the extent to which we are manipulated everyday by external forces – by books, newspapers, rules, regulations, convention, politics, our peers – these works of art refuse to let us simply sit back and stare. They challenge our idea about what were considered art in the first place. They force us to get more out of our experience with art. And, most importantly of all, they make it jolly good fun.It all started in the early Sixties, in New York, of course. The clear delineations between artists and dancers were broken down and the Judson Dance Theatre came into being. A dance troupe operating in the spirit of its time, rebelling against the conventions of modern dance and ballet – a community where trained dancers and untrained poets, musicians, visual artists and film makers alike came together to conceive collectively created dance. Today at the Hayward Gallery, the delineations between artist and dancer are tested once again, but this time the dancers are you.

For many, a trip to an exhibition is very much a spectator sport. Move: Choreographing You destroys this convention by getting the viewers to engage with the installations and conquer their inhibitions at the same time. We are squeezed through tight spaces, dazzled and roasted by flashbulbs, conceived, germinated and reborn, swung through rings and ropes, see-ed and saw-ed and hula-hooped around the gallery in what surely doubles as a workout as well as dose of culture. Definitely not an exhibition enjoyed best alone.

Once clambering simian-style over objects wears thin, Isaac Julien’s mesmerising film TEN THOUSAND WAVES offers some less physical, but no less disorientating, respite. Nine large screens hang round a dark room as a three pronged narrative is played out, shifting across all screens – forcing spectator to move and reorientate their perspective to follow the video’s flow. One might be stationary, but the feeling of motion is most certainly there.

Reflecting the extent to which we are manipulated everyday by external forces – by books, newspapers, rules, regulations, convention, politics, our peers – these works of art refuse to let us simply sit back and stare. They challenge our idea about what were considered art in the first place. They force us to get more out of our experience with art. And, most importantly of all, they make it jolly good fun.

Move: Choreographing You is on at the Hayward Gallery until the 9th of January