True to both Gibson and Gartside, there is of course no one shade of green, and so we have pear green, neon green, jade green. Green so close to yellow it becomes lime green. Green so close to blue it becomes sea green. Green like malachite, that mineral consisting of hydrated basic copper carbonate. All in all, there is 60 distinct colours in the costumes designed by former dancer with the New York City Ballet, Ellen Warren. Even when thrown into silhouette, a sense of the top and tail colours pinging about the stage remains. Each movement seeks to show this is how an arm sounds when it is raised, in all the different notes of green, and this is how blue feels in the ebb and flow. And when woven together, with light and shadow, look how it transforms again! 

In the 17th episode, “Round Table,” in which six dancers (Cameron Holmes, Henry Berlin, Elijah Trevitt, Riley Lapham, Yummi Yamada, and Benedicte Bemet) form an inward facing circle, the optical illusion reaches its zenith. In various shades of acid lime and citrine, on top, and blue lavender and sea foam below, the dancers rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise, as if gears of poetry in motion. With the spotlight on the disc on which they appear to stand, through their unique movements they now make the circle appear to spin before my eyes. When each dancer lands at 6 o’clock, they perform a quick-spark solo before choosing if the gear will spin to the left or the right. The effect reminds me of a thaumatrope which allows your eyes to connect the images drawn on both sides of the paper through the fast act of spinning a paper disc. A new visual emerges as the pace increases, thanks to the multiple shadows each dancer casts on the stage. Softly lit from above, their shadows fan behind them and make a chorus of many.

From inward facing to outward, the dancers also look out to the audience, with Samara Merrick tucking in beneath the column at the foot of the stage, and in the 6th episode’s “Phone Home,” when the dancers extend one arm out to the theatre, one finger pointing skyward. Precious Adams in forest green and blush pink hops into frame and teeters on her supporting leg, purposefully wobbling like a heron in a pond in a playful moment extended in triplicate by three other dancers. In the foreground of the reflecting pool, four dancers sit at the foot of the stage, their legs in turn dangling into the orchestra pit. Similar to the colour palette, intentional moments of casual, off-kilter balance and leisurely nonchalance feel almost accidental. But, of course, none of it is. It is precision, and crispness personified, with every extension of the leg or arm hitting the corresponding note.