god eater | Jag Popham

Images: Georgia Haupt

god eater is a visceral new solo dance work by Jag Popham. Jag is a company dancer for acclaimed Townsville based company DanceNorth, though you may have seen him perform in Brisbane before when he was part of the Australasian Dance Collective in the epic festival hit, Salamander (Brisbane Festival 2023). 

god eater is super atmospheric from the moment you walk into the theatre. This work has gone all in on a soundtrack and lighting design that is unsettling, creepy and very tense. In the beginning is a lot of haze, dim lightning and empty darkness, where Jag starts out low, slow, and small - a creature exploring the space.The only other thing in the stripped back black-box space with the performer is a ball covered in loose black fabric, which later rises and pulsates via infrequent sharp strobe lighting. It is a strong otherworldly contrast to the single human on stage. 

Along with collaborators Felix Sampson and Susanna Smith, Jag Popham is also the composer/sound designer of this piece. The soundtrack is intense and moody, working in perfect harmony with the lighting. The music and lighting build slowly together as the work progresses, the intensity of both rising with the intensity of the movement. 

Images: Georgia Haupt

The work is also an impressive display of endurance, with Jag visible to the audience for nearly the entire performance. Throughout the performance, Jag’s energy and commitment to the movement and moment never falters. His choreography feels organic - it moves between creature-like and human-like, with masterful control of movement. Even small gestures are executed with enough intention to draw you in. 

I do not find the story of god eater to be explicit, and I believe that is intentionally so. To me, it felt like watching an obsession, something looming over the performer, inescapable, mysterious and ever present. To another audience member, they may get something completely different out of the experience. The Metro Arts ticketing page includes this quote from Jag: "The work asks for trust in slowness, silence, discomfort, and mystery allowing the experience to move through the body before the mind tries to explain it. The destabilisation of comprehension is such a key for us.”. I think Jag has been successful in making something destabilising and original. The show delivers on intensity, discomfort and strong choices. This is not an entry-level contemporary dance work, but if you like pieces that make you work a little and feel a lot, god eater is an interesting contribution to the contemporary dance genre. 

god eater played 4 July 2026 at Metro Arts, West End.

Images: Georgia Haupt