By DJ Ratz
Taut skin and muscles flex as lengthy ribbon-adorned hair whips in the air. Sleek silver poles rotate dancers high above heavy beats coming from a DJ booth perched on stage scaffolding. Below an afterglow, British singer-performer, FKA twigs, takes to the stage for her San Francisco stop on her Body High Tour. Performing Eusexua Afterglow, her latest album; previous work like Magdalene and EP2; and brand new unreleased tracks, twigs oscillates between slow, rhythmic ballads, and quick dance tracks. The scaffolding-covered stage invites the ethos of Afterglow to build. It feels that in a time of fascism, like now, the body and its free movement is transgressive. When modesty is the dominant trend, resistance is being found in dance and performance. The choreography incorporated into her singing involved elements of vogue. It’s an enveloping experience, encouraged by its diverse track list. Reinvention and reconnection are central to the lyrics of her music and that manifests into the crowd dancing any worries away, despite my section not at all dancing as much as was appropriate. I head banged along to personal favorites like “Lights On”, “Two Weeks”, and “Striptease” as I traversed a ritual-like exercise. All this is to say I enjoy dancing to loud music. Twigs concludes her performance with her famous “Cellophane” and wraps the audience into a stifling atmosphere only released at the break of her voice. Rightfully called her Body High tour, FKA twigs champions the stage and taps in to the vibrations itching under our skin.
