Dance Eroticism of "Stockholm"

Emily Gardner Hall, as Kali, and Jason Babinsky, as Todd

You hear the title of this article - Dancing Erotically, With Knives - and you respond with huh, then hmm, as you're drawn to read it.

Those knives may or not be used to puncture skin (I’m not telling, and I’m not sure) before the end of this hourlong study of one disturbingly codependent couple. But you’ll always be conscious of them, hovering like so many mini-swords of Damocles. They are reminders that given the right — or wrong — inhabitants, even the coziest domestic sanctuary can be a dangerous place.

Writer Ben Brantley references the first staging of "Stockholm" by Frantic Assembly, with its haunting soundtrack offering just a hint of its eroticism:

Choreography, the deft work of Jennifer Weber, is essential to “Stockholm,” since Todd and Kali are dancing fools and their range of movement swings wide. Sometimes they skip about as blithely as Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in “Singin’ in the Rain,” but their natural form would seem to be the apache dance, with its all-out brutality. In bed, needless to say, they’re highly kinetic, gold medal gymnasts.

Playwright Bryony Lavery speaks about her play: