Spearing the Core of Albion: Myth, Social Identity and the Dancing Body in BalletBoyz’s England on Fire

This research article examines the concepts of myth, social identity and the dancing body found at the core of the multidisciplinary production of England on Fire (2023) by BalletBoyz. Taking as starting point England’s rich imaginary on the representation and corporeality of the mythical Albion and its vivid significance in the developing of collective identity, this analysis zooms in on the role of the dancing body as agent creating and shaping human agency. Spearing the core of Albion, the performativity in this collaborative artistic work brings to life ‘the many formal and conceptual ideas upon which the making of art is based’,[1] crossing borders across the semiotic spectrum and producing universal significance beyond precise time and space. In England on Fire, the symbolic across interdiscip0linary borders is embodied in the dancing bodies inhabiting a shifting – at times archaic - world imaginary saturated with significance. Now, this radical cultural product encapsulates a vivid proposal that challenges pressing issues embedded in processes of social constructionism, delivering along the way a radical lynchpin in modern dance belonging to the twentieth-first century. [1] Goldberg, RoseLee. (2001). Performance Arte. From Futurism to Present. Thames & Hudson. p.7