IMPASSE
Mufutau Yusuf
Impasse is a powerful, driving, and charged duet that seeks to understand the politics of the Black body in a contemporary western society. Through striking imagery, raw physicality and emotional intensity the performance challenges the historical racial projections of blackness – its crudeness, threat, sexuality, rage and immorality – unveiling its power, grace, sensuality, tenderness, intelligence and love.
Impasse premiered in May 2024 for Dublin Dance Dance Festival to critical and audience acclaim and went on to be presented at Dancebase for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival August 2024, and in autumn 2024 in France at Maison de la Danse, Lyon; in Ireland at Solstice Arts Centre, Navan and Dance Cork Firkin Crane, Cork; in Nigeria at Afropolis, Lagos, Nigeria; and in the UK at The Mac for Belfast International Arts Festival and Sadler’s Wells, London.
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Mufutau is a Nigeria-born Irish choreographer, performer, teacher, and curator based between Ireland and Brussels. A graduate of Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance, Mufutau is a dancer with Wim Vandekeybus/Ultima Vez in Belgium and in Ireland with Liz Roche Company and John Scott’s Irish Modern Dance Theatre.
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The Observer ★★★★★
If it’s always refreshing to see a different version of an old favourite, there’s nothing quite as exciting as seeing a terrific new work for the first time. At the end of the Edinburgh festival I was knocked out by Impasse, an exciting and thoughtful duet by choreographer Mufutau Yusuf for himself and (in this performance) Kennedy Junior Muntanga.
The Irish Times ★★★★
The emerging choreographer and dancer Mufutau Yusuf, in Impasse, his compelling, impressive premiere, was looking at the representation of the black body, as slave, as migrant, as subject of discrimination. The opening image was of two Beckett-like figures lost in a blank landscape, pulling a large bag. It may have been full of material possessions, but it was also the baggage of trauma, loss, shame and anger, all locked up and weighing them down. Yusuf and Lucas Katangila used their bodies so expressively and eloquently as they tensed with recollection.
The Scottish Field ★★★★
A well-executed narrative, precise movements and tight footwork make up this provocative rendering from Mufutau Yusuf and Lucas Katangila,
The Scotsman ★★★★
Impasse has a theatricality that leaps off the stage.
The Guardian ★★★★★
The movement is sharp, detailed, full of grace, building to a propulsive climax where they run in endless unison. Original and impressive, it marks Yusuf as a choreographer to watch.
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Mufutau Yusuf – Choreographer / Performer / Set Designer
Lucas Katangila – Performer
Tom Lane and Mick Donohoe – Composition and Sound
Matt Burke – Light Designer
Alison Brown – Costume Design
Maryam Yusuf – Prop design
Ikenna Anyabuike – Text / Spoken Word
Rima Baransi – Rehearsal Assistant
Lisa Mahony – Production Manager
Lisa Krugel – Set Consultant
The production of Impasse was originally commissioned and co-produced by Liz Roche Company and funded by The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon; and benefitted from additional support form Solstice Arts Centre, Dance Cork Firkin Crane, Irish Arts Centre New York, Ultima Vez, Dublin Dance Festival, Uillinn West Cork Arts Centre, Maison de la Danse, Lyon, Le Pôle européen de création, Centre National de la Danse .
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2024
24 May 2024: Project Arts Centre (Dublin Dance Festival), Dublin, Ireland
25 May 2024: Project Arts Centre (Dublin Dance Festival), Dublin, Ireland
13–25 August 2024: Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
11–12 October 2024: Maison De La Danse, Lyon, France
17 October 2024: Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, Ireland
25–26 October 2024: Dance Cork Firkin Crane, Cork, Ireland
31 October 2024: Afropolis Festival, Lagos, Nigeria
05 November 2024: Mac (Belfast International Arts Festival), Belfast, UK
14–15 November 2024: Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler's Wells, London, UK
2025
02 or 04 October 2025: Tipperary Dance, Tipperary, Ireland
2026
[Date TBC] 2026: Irish Arts Centre, New York, USA
[Date TBC] 2026: San Francisco Arts Festival, San Francisco, USA
[Date TBC] 2026: The Lowry, Salford, UK
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For more information, check availability, please contact Eckhard Thiemann at eckhard@eckhardthiemann.com.