It was a post-lockdown cliche to say we were reawakened to the importance of touch after having been starved of contact for so long. For dancers especially, touch is an essential part of their work, and it’s the theme for choreographer Charlotte Spencer’s latest piece, but there’s nothing cliched about her meditation on this sometimes sidelined sense.
Written in the Body is a gentle, quietly intelligent probing of our experience of the world via our bodies, skin and hands, guided by performers Petra Söör and Louise Tanoto. Sometimes it’s like playing with a four-year-old. “I want you to pull me backwards by my feet,” says one. “Put all your weight on me” becomes a reminder of how easily we forget the land of complete sensation young children live in.
