★★★★ by Ifan Llewelyn
On the dimly lit stage of the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol’s theatre sits dancer Osian Meilir. Sitting with his back to us looking back at a projected screen above his head, light cascading down his back. To his left are planted two green wellington boots, to his right are black brogues. It’s simple yet it clearly iterates what Meilir is exploring in Palmant/Pridd (translates to Paving/Soil), the inner tug of war between his life on the farm in rural South Wales and life in London as a contemporary dancer.
For many queer people, home is a tender subject. In the conventional sense of it being where you grew up, where your family raised you, it can be a complicated place. Often you’re the part that doesn’t quite fit into the perfect picture. Then those of us who have fled to urban metropolises to make a home for ourselves, one where we can be ourselves, we still feel our roots tugging us back to where we came from. It’s this sense of the in-between that Meilir explores in this work, often walking an imagined tight-rope between the two, swinging towards one side before twitching back to the other.
What made this piece distinctive was its swinging from the traditional home space to the new home space. Despite what a lot of media tries to tell us, moving away from home is rarely a clean severing. Most of us leave, then go back, then leave again. Much like the line Meilir draws on the ground, a silhouette of the hilly countryside that turns into the City’s skyscrapers, it comes in peaks and troughs.
Going home can be miserable, as presented in his convulsing during Geraint Jarman’s ‘Dyddiau Caethiwed’ (Days of Captivity) but it can also be perfectly pleasant, as demonstrated by his wide smile in trickling in a little traditional folk dancing. Returning to the city can also be joyous, or it can be daunting and a burden. The video work by Gwenllian Llwyd elevates the work, bringing a compelling dimension to the piece. Long, drawn-out footage of a London bus commute dissolves into a country walk, though friendly interactions with strangers give way to heavy panting.
Meilir deals overtly with queer themes in a section where he covers himself in labels. He violently applies yellow post-it notes to his body as a voiceover defines, redefines and over elaborates on the term ‘label’. After the labelling reaches its crescendo, he rebels and dances off the labels. Perhaps not the subtlest approach, but seeing the yellow squares peeling from his body and feather downward leaves a real impression.
Palmant/Pridd was performed as part of Mas ar y Maes at the National Eisteddfod, 9th August.
