by Joe Buffaloe
Daily Lobo
Liam Steel is in the middle of a
five-night run of shows in Gainesville,
Fla.
"My body's a bit stiff," he said.
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Steel directs and performs in
the show "Sinner," which hopped
over the Atlantic from London
for a tour of the United States.
The dance company putting
on the show, Stan Won't Dance,
describes the show as a self-destructive
solo for two men.
It is an intensely physical performance
that blends dance and
theater.
"It's literally two bodies hurling
each other through space," Steel said. "The set is an exploded
bar, so we're constantly jumping
and flying around pieces of furniture
and debris."
"Sinner" was inspired by David
Copeland, who set off a series
of nail bombs in London in 1999
as a statement of racism and
homophobia. The performance
examines the forces that drive
people to such violence and questions
the notion of sinner and
saint in every human
being.
The show is
like a ballet, an
art gallery, a play
and a laser show
all rolled into
one. It incorporates
dance, text,
video, an inventive
set and an
assortment of
stage effects.
"We take every
tool we can possibly
use and pull
them together,"
Steel said. "We'll
draw on anything
to say what we
want to say."
Though the
p e r f o r m a n c e
includes dance
styles such as ballet and tango, it is not based
on formal dance.
"All the movement is rooted in
truth and meaning," he said. "At
every moment, we're seeing what
we can convey with our bodies."
While other dance companies
have used text in the past, Steel
feels that "Sinner" goes further
than any of them. Perhaps this
is because he began his career as
an actor. Since then, he has directed
and performed in numerous
physical theater productions,
eroding the boundaries between
words and dance, theater and
movies, and audience and performer.
Besides the physical toll of the
performance, Steel said it is emotionally
draining.
"It's based on a right-wing
fascist homophobe, and getting
under the skin of a man like that
every night isn't easy," he said.
But for Steel, the benefits of
the show far outweigh the hardships.
"When we performed this
in London it created a ripple
throughout the city - it brought
so many of our fears and prejudices
to the surface," he said.
He said it will have a similar effect
in the United States.
"Whether it's 9-11, Columbine
or the nail bomber, people always
ask why it happened," he said.
In the end, though, "Sinner"
provides no easy answers.
"The purpose of art isn't to
preach," he said. "It's to make
people ask themselves more
questions when they leave than
when they showed up."
