Dragons – Birmingham Hippodrome

Set amidst an effusive of silver piping which wouldn’t look out of place in an industrial park, “Dragons” is a bright, engaging and slightly potty amalgam of dance, movement and physicality which, despite lacking plot, character and much we can get a grip on, proves itself a shining and engaging piece of theatre. South Korean choreographer, Eun-Me Aha, who’s company’s first appearance in the UK this is, presents herself as a book-ended sage opening and closing the show between which six buoyant young dancers carry the bulk of the performance – Gaon Han, Deokyeong Kim, Hyekyoung Kim, Seven Kim, Doohee Lee, Hyeonseo Lee and Yongsik Moon. The energy is palpable and the joy tangible as we are presented with a fluctuating series of vignettes rooted in ancient dance culture but living very much in the zeitgeist. The fact we have no story or characters makes it all the more remarkable for its achievement and tonight the audience were on their feet scooped up by the ebullience and wonder of it all.

Embellishing the real people are a series of eerily realistic hologram as the performers appear as their other-worldly selves and dance together hypnotically with their human incarnations. It’s about growth, history, heritage and all the dancers are born within the century, it’s about the new world and the future. It brings such a fresh and inventive slant to dance and, as I’m discovering, is irksomely difficult to describe, it lives and breathes as dance and only dance. The holograms co-exits with our real dancers exploring how past and future can co-exist harmoniously.

Eun-Me Ahn is a substantially important South Koran artist, and she has performed globally including the 2002 World Cup yet this is her company’s firsts appearance and hopefully not her last. Thew show is vivid and colourful and doesn’t pause for breath throughout it’s 75-minute run. It explodes with fun, joy and excitement and has a beating, thumping pulse throughout with out being oppressive. And it’s funny. From Eun-Me Ahn’s first entrance it is woven with joy, child-like silliness and fun which is so lacking in dance these days.

The show is brought to the UK by Dance Consortium, and they are to be applauded for sharing with us something unique, challenging, engaging and wondrous.

Reviewer: Peter Kinnock

Reviewed: 26th March 2025

North West End UK Rating: