"A nurse puts a steadying hand on my back and guides me to bed. She takes off my shoes, dresses me in soft pyjamas and hands me a VR headset. Mum will be along soon to read a bedtime story, she says. ZU-UK's tender encounter Within Touching Distance is part of Take Me Somewhere, Glasgow's biennial festival of wild-hearted international performance."
"Within Touching Distance is a slow act of care-taking, walking one audience member at a time through the course of a life, from being read a story as a child to clutching a walking frame in old age. Blending the physical with the digital, this smartly choreographed piece fights against technology's lack of intimacy; when I'm watching Mum squeeze my shoulder in my VR goggles, I feel my shoulder squeezed for real."
"The show works best in these framing scenes that ground us with physical contact, the story pressed into our skin. But with the bulk of the narration told solely through the VR, the middle is harder to hold on to, inviting vague philosophical questions and sorely missing the soft anchor of touch. Two dance shows walk the line between the limitations and possibilities of the body."
Within Touching Distance guides a single audience member through life stages, from childhood storytime to old age, combining physical caregiving with VR imagery. A nurse dresses the viewer, provides a teddy and synchronised touch that aligns with VR scenes, producing comforting, intimate sensations. The piece foregrounds framing scenes where real contact anchors digital narration. Extended VR-driven narration in the middle introduces vague philosophical gaps and reduces the tactile anchor. Two accompanying dance works probe bodily limits and identities. Lukas Avendano’s Requiem para un Alcaravan uses embroidered bridalwear and the indigenous muxhe concept to enact feminine rituals and queer celebratory embodiments.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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