Where We Choose to Stand

Where We Choose to Stand presents itself as a theatre-dance piece about climate activism, combining a solo dancer with a few verbatim excerpts and audience participation. In practice, there is very little actual dance and very little was said.

At times, choreographer and performer Penny Chivas's exploration felt more like a meditation, with the audience left to figure out what they are supposed to be taking from it. At one point the dancer brings the audience on stage, asking everyone to sit down, lie down and close their eyes. Perhaps as there was little to see. But the participatory gesture does not compensate for the lack of theatrical substance around it.

For a long time I wondered whether I was simply 'not getting it'. Eventually I decided that was probably because there was simply not enough there to get.

Where We Choose to Stand by Penny Chivas. Credit Brian Hartley.