In Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Fractus V, the message is philosophical and political, inspired by Noam Chomsky’s ideas on language and political control. When you can’t control people by force, you can control them by manipulating minds through language. For Cherkaoui, the principle of collective resistance is the choreography’s driving force. He expresses it through images of marvellous ingenuity, slotting his all-male dancers together into multi-limbed patterns and constellations, but also through a constant swapping between forms and cultures.



There’s also a dark underbelly of violence to this community, as the men descend into precision-choreographed gun battles and fights. But as with the best of Charkaoui’s work, Fractus V is a thrillingly expansive watch, large with possibilities and potent with ideas.