They say that two heads are better than one, and two bodies certainly are in this poignant two-part interpretation of Deborah Hay's score I Think Not performed by two different solo dancers. Karl Jay-Lewin and Anushiye Yarnell may have the same starting point using Hay's aesthetic criteria and her guiding principals of time, space and form but they both deliver two very different, equally moving pieces.
Audience seating was in a circle but Jay-Lewin ignored boundaries as he soared through the room with a gripping delivery that never failed to draw you into his world. His use of eye contact effectively heightened the intimate sense of the piece as he forged ahead. Clothes became the communicators when, first wearing an orange waterproof coat, he removed it to reveal a blue one, then removed that exposing his bare chest branded with 'It wasn't me'. Calling out to the audience, his voice entered the circle only after his body had left the room.
Changing the space as she came into the room, Yarnell, from Wales, takes a more direct approach. We swapped seats while Yarnell revealed the dance studio mirror, shedding a new light on the room as she began. The most striking aspect of her piece was the introduction of her infant daughter Hepzibah, just a few months old. Yarnell explains: "She is terrifying because she cries and because I can't make her happy all of the time and because I don't want anything bad to happen to her." Hepzibah wears a t-shirt that reads 'C'est ne pas moi', in a subtle nod to Jay-Lewin’s interpretation.
Work so beautiful and powerful to behold that you cannot fail to be moved
