Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, London
September 5, 2026
Greenwich+Docklands International Festival is all about free access to culture, about putting on shows in streets, squares, parks, pretty much any sort of public open space you can think of. Helped by a good dose of warm September sunshine, this year’s Dancing City day certainly brought the crowds out. The free and unticketed performances at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park were packed out, with people taking every possible vantage point.
The first of three performances on the Mid-terrace right outside Sadler’s Wells East, the Benched by Uppercut Dance Theatre from Denmark got the afternoon off to a terrific start.
Conceived and choreographed by Stephanie Thomasen, artistic director of Uppercut since 2016, it’s a work about relationships. As the five male dancers sit, stand, fall, recover, balance and dance on and around Johan Kølkjær’s set of three oversized and mobile benches, there are moments of conflict as well as cooperation, although it’s mainly the latter that’s to the fore. All the time, it’s the bench that brings them together, draws them back to the group.
Photo David Mead
It’s one of those pieces that defines categorisation. The dance, a fusion of contemporary, capoeira, acrobatics, hip hop and physical theatre, is inventive and surprises throughout. And then there’s the easy-going way in which the five men get along that communicates right from the off.
The opening section is light and free, the dance moving on and around the bench, all beautifully timed. Here and throughout, whether sliding, balancing, supporting each other or leaping into each other’s arms or whatever, the movement quality was outstanding. In amongst the action are occasional tender, very human moments.
Humour is never very far away but another section is more overtly playful and jokey. There’s a certain amount of playing the fool as the dancers josh easily with one another. They are part of a group, but also very much individuals, each bringing their own ‘something’ to the party.
Most laughs came when one dancer went into the audience and sat on a woman’s lap. The unsuspecting soul soon found herself with all five trying to balance there!
Photo David Mead
Some of the best moments come when the benches are split and moved around, used as tables, slides, even turned on end with a dancer atop. A couple of longer duets were outstandingly danced, the level of trust and understanding superb. The finale is fast and furious, and with just a hint of Latin. Was that a dash of flamenco I saw?
Benched is very inventive. It was forty minutes of great fun. Impossible not to like, it was a cracking start to the programme.
In As, Was, Is, a thirteen-minute new piece, Shawn Aimey and Chandenie Gobardhan bring together South Asian and street dance styles as they explore the exchange between teaching and learning.
The pair move very much on the beat with a lot of ticks and twitches before things settle down. There is a lot of walking and moving around each other, the dance sometimes in unison (mirroring or side-by-side), sometimes more conversational in nature.
Photo David Mead
Oddest aspect was the costuming. Both were dressed smartly, apart from the Nike trainers one wore, but also in beekeeping hats and veils. The latter did a very good job of hiding faces. Presumably that was intentional and for a reason, but what that might be was unclear. Faces have as much to say as the rest of the body. The headgear didn’t even come off for the bows.
Another short piece, Man Down by Fuse Theatre, directed by Harry Jardine, saw beatboxing meet hip hop in an exploration of sometimes toxic masculinity.
Nadeem Islam’s opening solo was beautifully fluid, if perhaps a little over-mimetic. The sound of keyboard keys in the score is met with a typing mime, for example. The tension ramped up with the arrival of the taut, muscular framed Chris Fonseca. Driven by the music (beatboxer Grace Savage), the two develop a conversation in movement. It’s not long before things start to unravel, vulnerabilities begin to show, and strength and power come to the fore, although there is some compassion in there too.
As it stands, Man Down packs a lot in. It would probably benefit from better pacing. But it all made for an increasingly fascinating watch. With its strong ideas, it’s not difficult to imagine it being expanded into a much longer piece.