Battersea Arts Centre, London
Some 70 dancers reacquaint audiences with the BAC building in a sumptuous feast from James Cousins Company
Though it features some 70 dancers, James Cousins’ We Are As Gods is not only, perhaps not even mainly, a dance performance. A “takeover” of Battersea Arts Centre that spreads across its rooms, corridors and staircases, it is also part of the Centre’s reopening as a performance venue, reconnecting it to a live audience and – through its recent pay-what-you-can and relaxed venue policies – to a wider one.
One of the event’s aims is to let us experience the wonders of the building, from the mosaic floors and marble steps, through the cupolas and vaults that arch through its chambers, to the creaky back stairways, cubbyholes and fire escapes. An attic is arrayed with glistening gold boulders; one gallery is filled with statuary, busts and torsos adorned with tassels and brocades in a hybrid of classicism and surrealism.
At Battersea Arts Centre, London, until 10 October