At first, the audience can only see the backs of the seven male dancers: their formation morphs from a line into a scattered circle, their steps steadily punctuating the beat of the music. Only once they’ve revealed their faces do they break off into more complex sequences.
With NASS, choreographer Fouad Boussouf skilfully blends urban and contemporary dance styles: it’s a meeting between different times, different cultures – between the earthly and the spiritual. The dancers raise their arms together as if in a silent plea, but are they all praying for the same thing? Despite cleverly playing with patterns to convey the unity and tradition that underlies it all, each performer’s individuality is apparent.
The mood shifts as quickly as the swift footwork: switching from menace to trance-like abandon, the dancers triumph over gravity itself, somehow managing to fuse heaven and earth with their prowess.