to my amazement, a shadowy figure of a man appears behind the screen sitting on a sofa surrounded by other bits of furniture and a window, all created by the shapes of shadowy dancers. The man moves from side to side, as though he is lost. He peers out of the window but is totally alone.
The image transforms to two balconies – there’s a girl in the lower one, sitting reading a book and the man stands in the top looking out. I can tell the shapes are formed by the movement of the shadowy figures, but they are so quick and move so adeptly it is hard to tell. Then all the shadow hands start clapping and the girl leans across the balcony, her head in her hands. The man calls to her and sends down a shadowy box on a rope. She then puts something in it and sends it back up. He dances happily and so does she. But then another woman within a photo frame at the back of the screen puts her arms out to the man – the girl below walks inside and her balcony is empty.
I am spellbound.
The man above sends away the woman in the frame sitting with his head in his hands, then he writes a letter and lowers it down to the balcony below, but it remains empty. He comes down the rope himself, dances outside her balcony, with his hands to his chest, then outstretched towards her as if to say he’s sorry. The girl comes back out and puts her hands out to him and all around there are lots of hands clapping.
Then the music stops and a group of eight men and women come running out from behind the screen and take a bow. Everyone is clapping. All the neighbours who have gradually filtered out onto their balconies cheer and wave at the performers.
‘Woo!’ shouts Greg from his balcony on the side.
Down in the courtyard I can see Bertie waving his cap and Mavis is there at two metres’ distance in a deckchair. All round the edge there are little clusters of people, all socially distanced.
‘Good evening!’ shouts one of the dancers. He has a thick Greek accent. The clapping and cheering dies down. ‘Thank you so much everyone for your wonderful applause. It has been an absolute pleasure to perform for you this evening. Of course I must thank Jack who lives in the flat up there – hi, Jack – for inviting us to come and perform for you all. And most of all hey to Sophia – to whom this performance is dedicated, with thanks from Jack for all her support over the last few weeks. Are you there, Sophia?’
Totally embarrassed I step forward a few steps to the edge of the balcony and give a little wave.
He waves back. ‘I must add,’ he continues, ‘that we are a group of performers, called The Shadow Dancers. We are originally from Greece and we all live together in one student house in Braxton, so no social distancing necessary for us. If you would like to see us perform again, we have a variety of routines. I have left a pile of leaflets for you in the courtyard to take. We are not able to perform in the usual way at the moment, but are hoping when the lockdown eases a little, we may be able to tour and perform to people outside their communal buildings and hospitals, retirement homes and those sorts of places.’
‘Hear hear! We all want more!’ shouts Bertie.
Everyone claps.
‘Encore!’ shouts someone.
‘Okay, one more!’ calls the man.
The figures all run back behind the screen and within minutes they have merged together to form a new scene of a hillside, with trees and plants and a bird flying across the top. The man and the woman come from either side of the screen and run to each other – embracing and dancing together until they both form a heart with their arms. I stand completely motionless, transfixed by what I have seen. There’s another great cheer from all the balconies.
‘Thank you for watching and goodnight!’ The group all bow and with graceful moves, retreat behind the screen to more applause. I am still completely stunned at what I have just seen; it all feels surreal and almost as though I’ve walked out into a different planet.
‘Man, that was something,’ says Greg. ‘The kids at my college would love this. I wonder if they can