Appearing as the final piece in FORM Dance Projects' That's Two, Thank You triple bill, Taiwanese choreographer LAI Hung-chung's Push and Pull, is quite simply too accomplished for its presentation context. This is cinematic-quality dance theatre that deserves a larger stage and extended season.
The work begins with elegant simplicity, inspried by a door marked "PUSH" or "PULL." From this everyday gesture, LAI constructs a meditation on connection, distance, and the delicate negotiations that characterise all relationships. Performed by WU Shin-jie and LEE Kuan-ling, the piece unfolds with the measured precision of fine filmmaking.
The program notes indicate Push and Pull emerged from LAI's memories of his mother, "a quiet yet resilient figure." This personal genesis informs the work's emotional texture without limiting its scope. What begins as intimate remembrance expands into universal exploration of how we navigate proximity and separation, assertion and yielding.
The performers' coordination is nothing short of extraordinary. Certain sequences appear genuinely in slow motion, each gesture carefully calibrated and executed with balletic precision. These moments create space for the audience to truly see the relationship's architecture, the subtle weight shifts, the carefully measured distances, the invisible threads connecting two bodies in space.
Other sections demand considerable physical strength, with WU and LEE supporting each other's weight in configurations that appear impossible. The trust required for this work is palpable, transforming this technical achievement into an emotional statement. These aren't merely impressive physical feats, but demonstrations of mutual reliance.
Breath, identified in the program as a central element, shapes the work's rhythm in ways both subtle and profound. The audible breathing and heartbeats create an intimate soundscape that draws the audience into the performers' physical reality. We become acutely aware of effort, of the body's limits, of the determination required to maintain connection.
The work's structure follows a relational ebb and flow. Moments of intense connection give way to careful distance, periods of harmony dissolve into powerful resistance. This pattern mirrors actual relationship dynamics with sophisticated understanding, avoiding both sentimentality and cynicism.
LAI's choreographic language draws on minimalist aesthetics while maintaining emotional accessibility. There's no unnecessary ornamentation, no gratuitous display. Every movement serves the larger meditation on giving and receiving, resisting and yielding. The result feels almost cinematic in scope, easily an epic narrative compressed within an intimate frame.
Push and Pull feels almost too sophisticated for the Eternity Playhouse context given its scale of ambition. This isn't an experimental work-in-progress or modest contemporary dance exploration. This is fully realised theatrical art that operates at international festival standard. The intimacy of Eternity Playhouse does allow for the priviledge to closely observe the performers' extraordinary skill, but the work can truly demand major venue production value and audience reach.
Push and Pull is compelling throughout. Its measured pacing never feeling slow but rather allowing space for genuine contemplation. The work reminds us that sometimes, as the program notes observe, "yielding itself is a way forward," a lesson with resonance far beyond the theatre.
More info: https://www.form.org.au/thats-two-thank-you-2026/
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