Part of this year’s World Buskers Festival, Java Dance Theatre’s Back of the Bus is a dance performance piece like no other.

Set literally on a Bentley Bus, the show takes place over 90 minutes, driving around Christchurch as the dancers turn the central aisle of the bus into their stage.

The magic of the performance is the unexpected surprises along the way, so stop reading now if you’re lucky enough to have a ticket to Back of the Bus! At the time of writing, there is only one ticket left for the eight remaining shows.

As I wait at the Montreal St Bus Stop with my fellow audience members, excitement is brewing. The audience ranges from ages six to 80, and I don’t think anyone really knows what to expect.

Once we board, our host explains there will be two stops (a surprise to most of us), as I certainly expected the whole performance to take place on the bus itself.

The bus sets off on our journey around the city, first picking up dancer Sacha Copland (Java Dance Theatre’s Artistic Director, Creator and Choreographer of Back of the Bus), overloaded with many supermarket bags. It quickly becomes very messy and very funny, breaking the ice in a bus full of strangers. Potato chips, popcorn and crackers fly around the bus – watching other people’s reactions is almost a show in itself!

Second dancer, Stela Dara, reveals herself (from the seat next to me) and guides us off the bus for our first stop at Hagley Park. Stela embodies sunshine and the joy she brings to her performance endows the audience with smiles and laughter. There’s something oddly moving about dancing around in a circle, holding hands with a group of strangers, alongside the Hagley Park wildflowers.

We get back on the bus (shoutout to bus driver John for his quick clean-up effort; the aisle is no longer scattered with crumbs) and continue on our journey. Dancer Ella Williams is revealed, performing near acrobatic movements from the posts within the moving bus. I’m in awe of her strength and grace.

Guest Local Artist Leo Liu pulls out his violin, serenading our journey along Bealey Ave. At this point the audience has truly warmed up, open to the interactions with the performers, with lots of smiles, laughs and cheers.

Our second stop perplexes the crowd, as Sacha runs up the driveway of a stunning home on Chester St. It’s grand, and most certainly looks lived in, as we spy a piano and dining room through the window. There’s hesitation about where we are headed – are we about to walk into a family having dinner? Ushered into a lounge that looks like it was frozen in time many years ago, with a wall full of books and antique furniture, we watch all three dancers perform together. Their ability to communicate feeling through movement is inspiring.

Back onto the bus for the final leg of our journey, we see the dancers (with help from the audience), freshen up with red lipstick. If you thought putting on mascara was hard, wait till you see someone put mascara on someone else, on a moving bus!

Our final stop is Cook ‘N’ With Gas and by this point our host Mya Fisher has joined in the dancing too! Mya is credited as a Guest Local Artist, so it’s great to see how this Wellington-based group engages local, emerging performers. The show comes to a joyful conclusion with James Brown’s “I’ve Got You (I Feel Good)”.

Back of the Bus brings people together for a shared experience. Probably not the show for those who don’t like audience interaction, but luckily my group were mostly open to giving it a go. It’s a fun, creative, joyful performance on the move. It’s a shared experience which gives you a little hope about the world and faith in the people around you.

[BACK OF THE BUS first took to the road in 2009. Reviews of earlier iterations may be found here.]

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