Call to Mind review by Simon Fallaha
"Life matters even more than love."
"They're the same thing."
- Valentina and Tony, West Side Story (2021)
There are moments in time when, regardless of age, love and life really can feel like, or even be, one and the same. Like the unifying of emotion with a journey of truly upward mobility. But then, when said journey hangs by a human thread that one is suddenly led to believe may snap, where has one to turn? No, the journey is not and never has been perfect, but having become accustomed to a sort of fulfilment along the way, one wants it to be. And if the journey of one becomes a journey for two, three or more, so much the better - it's like enhancing security in beliefs.
This is one of many windows that the Sarah Golding-choreographed and Steve Davis-composed Call To Mind, performed by dancers Gerard Headley, Clara Kerr and Michael McEvoy at Belfast's Crescent Arts Centre as part of the Young At Art Belfast Children's Festival 2024, opens - an insight into the art of decision-making and how it is impacted by sense and sentiment through the language of music and dance.
Assisted by Davis and his fellow musicians Jamie Thompson and Grainne Meyer, whose live performances on harp, keyboard and drums add an atmospheric ambience to the movement along with top-notch lighting from Ciaran Bagnall and arresting costuming from Una Hickey, Headley, Kerr and McEvoy supremely express the contrast between the potential for thriving within the systematic and the equal potential for routine to numb. Their movements hint at, in this observer's eyes, love as life, explained through tentative steps towards newfound joy, the need to discover where one stands, and the means of transcending structure and balance for harmonious spontaneity. It isn't solely a call to mind - it's a call to the body and soul.
Early impressions are that all three dancers, placed against a wall to start with, are really up against it - whatever "it" may be. If not in a slumber, they are in a kind of trance, which can perhaps best be described as the sense of being taken out of one set of plans and being suddenly planted into another. This is then echoed in a brief series of choreographed moves which appear increasingly rigid and rotational before all three dancers turn towards us in an act akin to swimming, a mental battle of desire against a physical current of life.
As the drums from the orchestra become increasingly rhythmic, the dancing becomes increasingly hypnotic. Even when the lighting draws a shadow on the dancers, it isn't long before they step out, as a hint of casting aside their fear before the music fades away to what sounds like radio static. This induces a sudden stiffness amongst our dancing performers - like the apparent radio noise, it is if they can no longer be tuned in or focused on movement without the right light and sound. In this sense, Golding and the trio highlight that actions speak louder than not merely words, but everything - and as all three gradually free themselves from their stiff poses, with a help of a little laughter and the presence of the towering Kerr, we learn that it's not only about finding purpose in survival, but also in escapism. When the odd voice is heard amidst the voiceless static, we know our performers are finding a way to move again, while also showing us how they intend to no longer fit in a metaphorical wall but stand out on an open floor. An old voice has been lost, but a new one will be found - this Call To Mind has brought with it new senses of direction and independence.
When the static dies down and the music sparks up again, everyone moves wildly. The haphazard nature of the movement is suddenly irrelevant in sight of the chest-bursting excitement to be enjoyed by the dancing trio and observed by a clearly enraptured audience. Yet even in the midst of this velocity, there remain thematic observations to be drawn. As Kerr enhances her level of visible command alongside the hugely impressive Headley and McEvoy, one does ponder the power of the individual versus the power of the group, how the prospect of having a "leader" in place can define group movement, and how expressive one can truly be within a relatively small and claustrophobic space. The Call To Mind here, therefore, is a call to desires and aspirations within one's own mind and a call to be mindful of one's surroundings. It seems to echo a prominent message from this year's Belfast Children's Festival - the lengths that both a person and people will go to in order to not only be expressive but also to find peace. A message that, especially in this context, can't be anything but sublime.