Impasse is a compelling exploration of ethnicity, identity, and the experience of the Black diaspora. An attempt to understand the politics of the Black body in a contemporary western society, Impasse interrogates notions of representation, misrepresentation, and the lack of representation.

In this powerful work, two performers confront the biased narratives etched onto Black bodies throughout history. These narratives, steeped in cultural imperialism, violence, exploitation, marginalisation, and powerlessness, are laid bare with raw physicality and emotional intensity.

By challenging the historical racial projections of blackness – its crudeness, threat, sexuality, rage and immorality – the performance unveils its power, grace, sensuality, tenderness, intelligence and love. Impasse goes beyond mere exploration and invites a reshaping of our sense of self and community. It reclaims our humanity and celebrates the autonomy and self-determination of Black bodies.

 

Tickets: €12 / €15
Under 18s free

Content Warnings
Contains strobe lighting, loud music and nudity

 

The tour of Impasse is co-produced by Luail – Ireland’s National Dance Company.

---

 

PRESS
The Observer ★★★★★
If it’s always refreshing to see a different version of an old favourite, there’s nothing quite as exciting as seeing a terrific new work for the first time. At the end of the Edinburgh festival I was knocked out by Impasse, an exciting and thoughtful duet by choreographer Mufutau Yusuf for himself and (in this performance) Kennedy Junior Muntanga.

The Irish Times ★★★★
The emerging choreographer and dancer Mufutau Yusuf, in Impasse, his compelling, impressive premiere, was looking at the representation of the black body, as slave, as migrant, as subject of discrimination. The opening image was of two Beckett-like figures lost in a blank landscape, pulling a large bag. It may have been full of material possessions, but it was also the baggage of trauma, loss, shame and anger, all locked up and weighing them down. Yusuf and Lucas Katangila used their bodies so expressively and eloquently as they tensed with recollection.