DV8: The Cost of Living

A boy dancing out his sexual aggression to Cher.

A man with no legs determined to finish the day.

A woman who looks like Amy Winehouse spinning 100 hula hoops.

DV8 Physical Theater's The Cost of Living, released on DVD in 2004, has haunted how I frame movement since I first encountered it a couple years back. Originally produced for the stage as can we afford this / the cost of living in 2000 and then again as the cost of living in 2003 - this made for film version in 2004 continues today to win awards for its aggressive movement as well as its cinematic efforts. Beautifully weaving in surrealist fantasy, whimsical narratives and sexual energy, Director Llyod Newsom's approach to physical theater has been to move away from the abstract, modernist elements that still dominate most contemporary dance and aims at making meaning with postmodern focuses on everyday gesture; the dance club; child's play; grind-core; slam-dancing and other movements from vernacular dance practices. Though not as queer oriented as some of their past works, we still find unusual parings; a homo bathroom cruising scene and a lot of public eros.

"The Cost of Living was shot on location in Cromer on the Norfolk coast: a typical, old-fashioned and faded English seaside resort. The summer season has petered to an end. An air of desertion hangs over the town. Eddie and David are disillusioned street performers. Eddie is tough, confrontational and not afraid to defend his belief in justice, respect and honesty. David is a dancer who has no legs (as he is in real life), watching him makes you reconsider accepted notions of grace and perfection. He is quietly determined not to let his disabilities or society's prejudices get in his way. A series of inter-linked scenes show Eddie and David's encounters with other people; some are incredibly hard-hitting, others exhilarating because of their sheer physicality." (from their website)

DV8 has been investigating the gendered body, the racialized the body, the differently-abled body, the modern body - the live body - since 1985 and continues with their current touring of To Be Straight With You ; a live dance theater piece with a multi-ethnic group addressing issues about tolerance and sexual identity.

| DV8 website | videos | Images via DV8 |