The Ballad of Herbie Cox - Dancing Up The Family Tree

I've always loved hearing family stories. I love scouring family albums and getting engrossed in the little histories we make for ourselves. The Ballad of Herbie Cox offers a full lesson in the making of a family and serves as an affirmation of the identities of husband and wife team Victoria Chui and Roland Cox.

Using song, dance, movement, recordings with family members and a little bit of puppetry they illustrate how we create our identities through those that came before us, but grow to be unique people through our own experiences. The show is a tribute to the combined power of their personal narratives, and named in tribute for their own son. It's kind of the best family story a kid could ever ask for.

It isn't everyday that two dancers decide to step up to the mic and use their words as well as their bodies, but Cox and Chui do so with effortless grace, managing to be candid, funny and touching. They both move in exciting ways, and Cox even skillfully plays the piano. It doesn't hurt that the show is personal, so when they're required to perform as people they know they get to do loving impersonations, so it feels less like acting and more like story telling. A lot of it feels like a friend telling you a story that just happens to involve a piano and dance and be on stage.

Neither one of them shy from the darker sides of their parents, grandparents and siblings, and there's a particularly touching tribute to the failure of one family member. As the couple delves more into the history of their personal relationship they speak less and use movement and music more, probably reflecting the fact that they use the mediums their best trained in to reflect how they really feel about each other. The movement sections are original and striking, although there's a lot of floor work and the venue doesn't always serve this. Show up early and sit up front if you want to get the full effect.

I genuinely enjoyed this window into the tragedies and triumphs of a family. Catch it while you still can - it's worth the time. Plus, Cox and Chui have a rather adorable surprise at the end.