Hetain Patel's Don't Look at the Finger screens as part of Tanssivirtaa Tampereella Festival, in the screening programme 'CONNECTED' which celebrates the use of dance in a selection of British and Finnish films.

One of kung fu master Bruce Lee’s most celebrated sayings, voiced in a key scene in his magnum opus Enter the Dragon, warns us never to be distracted by a finger that is pointing at something lest we miss what it is pointing at. This maxim seems especially relevant to the art of Hetain Patel, which frequently beckons us in one direction, only to reveal, after a series of feints and swerves, that its real substance lies elsewhere. In this work, two protagonists and a small coterie of companions, all dressed in vibrantly patterned West African robes, gather in a church for a wedding ceremony. Perhaps, judging by the nervous glances traded by the couple, for an arranged marriage. The proceedings are conducted in sign language – each gesture, extravagant or small, possessing an intimacy and tactility that seems to both presage and magnify the union that is about to take place.

Don't Look at the Finger (2017) by Hetain Patel was commissioned by Film and Video Umbrella with Manchester Art Gallery and QUAD. Supported by Arts Council England. Initial research supported by Jerwood Choreographic Research Project.