Just got back from watching Pogo Mob by The Mob at the Københavns Musikteater. A show that was loosely inspired by the first British punk era and the spirit of D.I.Y.
The scene is bare and white, with two young woman dressed in blue jeans and white t-shirts the uniform of British punks. One of them is po-going on a small trampoline. There is an older shaved head man (Poul Laursen) dressed the same and another older man (Jørgen Teller) behind a bank of electronic music devices.
One of the girls Emma-Cecilia Ajanki reading from a sheet of paper begins to describe the concept, The D.I.Y ethos. She is now joined by Julia Giertz who asks us to try her DIY cupcakes. They then both ask the audience “do we even want to do it ourselves?” as doing it yourself can be hard. Emma-Cecilia now falls from her trampoline causing a bloody knee, the consequence of trying to do it herself.
Now the older man steps forward and places is hands on the two young woman. He begins to manipulate their limbs into iconic poses such as a raised hand making a devils horns or a peace symbol. Now he begins to manipulate the girls into more physical dance moves, resting one girl on the other, interweaving their limbs. As the intensity of the music increases, the manipulation becomes more dramatic, the girls are now like rag dolls being pushed and pulled into tangled heaps on the floor. Now they are being picked up and thrown around by the man. Like a slow motion microcosm of a mosh pit, the girls bodies are tossed about at the mercy of an angry man, who is spurred on by the rise and fall in intensity of the music. You feel apprehension for their safety, but you can also see a strength in their bodies so you know they are going to be OK.
The dance brings my mind back to my own experiences of mosh pits in the mid 90′s, the feeling of being in an ocean of human energy that you could either push against or submit your body to. Become part of the mass and go with the flow or drown. Also thoughts of free will and how much control do we have over our paths through life. What are the unseen forces that manipulate us?
I also remembered a conversation I had around 1996 with a friends mother who was a psychiatric nurse. She asked me why I enjoyed the “Violence” of a Mosh pit, and I explained that is was a cathartic release to throw yourself into the energy of the crowd, to be part of the swirling mass. It left you exhausted but exhilarated. It was a controlled violence and a space where you really became aware of your own physicality as you where pushed and pulled through a sea of human bodies who you are in extremely intimate contact with. The lyrics of the songs I listened to where often about fierce independence and I do remember questioning myself at the time why I was willing to dissolve my individuality into the mass. What is it like for these two woman to be a the mercy of this dominant man?
Now all four performers stand in a line, like a crowd at a punk show. The dominant man speaks the words from Iggy Pop’s classic ” I wanna be your Dog”
So messed up
I want you here
In my room
I want you here
Now we’re gonna be
Face-to-face
And I’ll lay right down
In my favorite place
And now I wanna
Be your dog
They all now move in slow motion loops of dance moves from a punk show as the music de-constructs itself. They drop to all fours and crawl in a line off stage and the show is over. Like any good “Punk” show it was short and intense and left me wanting more.
Definately keep your eye out for future performances by the Mob.
