Work Songs is a dance exploration of office-place machismo power struggles by The Dangerologists. Dancers and choreographers Broderick Chow and Tom Wells wrestle and thrash about with one another in a manner that turns everyday movements into a physical dance about fighting over a desk chair.
The extent of their physicality got some empathetic moans from the audience imagining the possible pain the performers might have endured while body slamming and throwing each other onto the floor in moves that looked more like pro wrestling than dance. However, the sheer strength and agility required for the piece as a whole is astonishing, and included incredible moments such as Wells jumping from a sitting position and unassisted directly on top of Chow’s shoulders.
The spoken portions of the piece, however, did not enhance the movement and seemed to me irrelevant to the concept of the dance. Some of the music choices are creatively original, such as mixing copy machine noises with dubstep, while others were jarring, as in Prince’s ‘Kiss’ underscoring a prolonged fight sequence. Overall, it is impressive to watch these two men in suits duke it out, but the conclusion of the battle was lost on me.