REVIEW: GRAVITY, Festival of Korean Dance at The Place 15 May 2026

‘technically impressive, visually bold, and full of kinetic intensity’ ★★★★★

GRAVITY by Ryu and Friends opens with a screeching soundscape and sharp, deft movement cutting across the stage. From the beginning, the dancers appear caught by an invisible force: shaken, pulled, scattered, and drawn back together again.

The movement is fast-paced and physically demanding, performed by ten-strong dancers with superb technique and stamina. There is a constant sense of bodies negotiating different force, such as gravity, attraction, collision, resistance, and the choreography builds a restlessly shifting relationships. Although there is no clear storyline, the piece builds a strong rhythmic flow, and the full 65 minutes feel tightly held.

The soundscape and lighting do a great deal of the dramaturgical work, creating the atmosphere the piece needs: alien, tremorous, sometimes harsh, sometimes strangely beautiful. What is impressive is how carefully the stage picture is composed. The lighting, costumes, sound and choreography work together to create a strange and charged atmosphere. Nothing feels accidental. The floating orbs add a clear visual metaphor, suggesting planets, bodies, worlds, or the fragile objects around which human relationships form.

The energy is sustained throughout, and even when the concept becomes abstract, the company’s physical precision keeps the work compelling. GRAVITY is a striking introduction to Ryu and Friends: technically impressive, visually bold, and full of kinetic intensity.

GRAVITY By Ryu and Friends

Part of Festival of Korean Dance 

The Place 15th May 2026

A Festival of Korean Dance runs across five venues from 13 - 30 May. Gravity was also presented at Tramway on 13th May.

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