Otherwordly and Queer: spirited away with Ouinch Ouinch's 'Happy Hype'
- Janejira Matthews
- Jun 4
- 3 min read
Right from the start, Ouinch Ouinch collectif’s Happy Hype promises a barmy bewitching time. Mysteriously covered in long black skirts, sunglasses and round furry cloche-style hats, the collective are a kooky bunch of five with all the antics to match. They fumble and fall about in the foyer before the performance officially begins, giggling away and entertaining, or maybe making the more reserved among us feel a little awkward with the surprise shenanigans. Based on fae folklore, the Ouinches describe themselves as a fairy-like beings bent on spiriting unsuspecting humans away by infecting them with dance. As we, the audience, walk into the performance space chivvied along by the Ouinches, there is already a lure into madness and the unknown.
Settling down on a dance studio floor with chairs around the edge as an alternative seating option, we’re forming something of a fairy circle as the dancers plop hats on viewers, roll around and generally cause harmless mayhem. Mulah, Happy Hype’s powerful DJ, observes. Suddenly, a single note penetrates the air and the Ouinches snap to attention. Turning towards Mulah, they are drawn to her as she summons them in with spread fingers and sweeping arms, a sorceress controlling mischievous creatures. It’s a joyous relationship that drives the mood of Happy Hype, centralising its musical influences and giving space for dancers to show off their identities and queer pride. Mulah blends hip-hop and funky club beats with playful melodies, offering up everything from sexy and fun to furiously unapologetic. The Ouinches are electric, the music a spell on which they feed to stamp their presence into the room.
Along with presence comes identity. Although the Ouinches are absurd, sometimes goofy, each is serious about their sense of self. The long black skirts are soon shed to reveal bright shorts and cropped tops that expose the dancer’s bodies. In baring breast, belly and skin, the typical binary between male and female, masculine and feminine melts away. There is only being and the blurring of unnecessary boundaries between dream and reality, forced perceptions and truth. Queerness is the norm here. No inhibitions lie in showing us who they are; the Ouinches disrupt separation between performer and viewer when they lie among us, twitching and writhing in ecstatic embodiment of the music. The mood is infectious, and indeed, the Ouinches’ ambition to seduce us all into dance is beautifully met as everyone dances as they sit or cheer the performers on.
Crossing the old with the new enhances Ouinch Ouinch’s power through movement, circle motifs re-appearing and mixing with play. Drawing on medieval dance mixed with hip-hop, the collective rotate in a circle at various points, swishing their black skirts at the audience near the start, or traversing in circular pathways with medieval inspired steps and arms linked. It might be hard to imagine an older movement form set to club beats, but it’s an ingenious choice when you realise both the medieval dance steps, hip-hop moves and music are rhythmically informed to a regular beat, and steeped in social interaction. Happy Hype reveals a medieval modern designed to beguile all of us in a communal experience, because whilst the Ouinches are otherworldly, they create a space that is unapologetically human.
