Let's Talk About Dis', 2014 Performance

Commissioned by Candoco Dance Company and performed as part of a double bill by the company called Performing Another, including work by Swiss choreographer Thomas Hauert.

Candoco are a contemporary dance repertory company of disabled and non-disabled dance artists.

Let’s Talk About Dis is Hetain’s first commission for a dance company. Although he has created the piece, it is the first time he is not performing in his own work. Instead it will be performed by the seven dancers of Candoco, and has been made in collaboration with them and the creative team below.

Hetain is interested in what makes us who we are, culturally and socially. As a British artist of Indian heritage, he has grown aware of the limitations that come with definitions used for minorities be it about race, gender or sexuality.

This is the starting point of his commission for Candoco. He wants to deal with what it means for these dancers to be part of a company that has defined itself through the notion of disability and inclusivity. And work with the tension of these terms which are simultaneously useful and frustrating, empowering and limiting.
Hetain is interested in how Candoco navigates this, both as a company and as individuals. But also how we navigate this as an audience coming to see them?

In this piece you will see the result of their conversations: their agreements and arguments. You will experience the diversity of personalities, voices and bodies of the company. They have chosen to use many languages, some of them new to them: from dancing and singing, to speaking and exploring British Sign Language.
Amongst the personal stories and provocations, you will encounter honesty, humour, and contradictions; the meeting of the familiar with the unfamiliar.