FESTIVAL DANCE | Previews
FLOWN Acrobatic calamity from carefully unprepared circus troupe
When bringing a show to the Fringe, it stands to reason you should probably have an actual show to perform. But for circus company Pirates of the Carabina, it was exactly the opposite starting point that led them to create acrobatic spectacular Flown. Set to feature ‘flying ironing boards’, ‘swinging drum kits’ and ‘disaster’, Flown is the fate of a troupe of musicians, aerialists and wire-walkers, desperately unprepared for their incoming audience.
‘Individually, we’ve performed thousands of shows all over the world,’ says Pirate Gwen Hales, ‘and along with all this experience come fantastic tales of disaster and near-disaster, of when shows only went ahead by the skin of their teeth. We had great fun telling these stories to each other and thinking about how, for circus, the stakes are much higher than for other performance media.’
The Pirates, who take their name from the carabiner metal
clips used by aerialists and abseilers, are appearing as part of circus producer Crying Out Loud’s festival programme, which aims to highlight the wealth of circus and circus-crossover work currently being created in the UK.
‘If you think you know what contemporary circus is, think again,’ says Crying Out Loud director, Rachel Clare. ‘UK and European funding has started to support artists to take risks. This is an especially good year for experiencing what’s new in the world of contemporary circus, and Flown is a fine example.’
When it comes to revealing anything more about what to expect from the show, however, Hales is cryptic. ‘We tell some bad jokes. And the show features a miniature horse called China. I can’t tell you any more than that – I’d have to kill you.’ (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Underbelly Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, 3–26 Aug (not 6, 13, 20), 4.20pm, £12.50–£13.50 (£11.50–£12.50). Previews 1 & 2 Aug, £10 (£9).
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CIRCA: WUNDERKAMMER Quantum acrobatics OUT OF HIS SKIN Complexities of the modern male
TANGRAM An infinite puzzle of dance and circus
If you’re not sure where to look when Wunderkammer begins, don’t worry. It’s intentional. Yaron Lifschitz, artistic director of Australia’s Circa, is aiming for sensory overload. ‘It’s based on the idea of quantum instability and the superposition of states, so you have multiple things coming at you,’ he says when we meet in Madrid. ‘The first 20 minutes of the show are almost unwatchable in any conventional sense.’ If that sounds an odd philosophy for a circus
show, that’s because Circa believes in doing things differently. The seven acrobats have all the hoop-twirling, pole-climbing and back-flipping skills you’d expect, but Lifschitz removes the big-top cheesiness. In Wunderkammer, he creates the kind of ambivalent atmosphere more typical of contemporary dance, not least in the show’s dystopian finale in which the performers become atomised and the mood turns bleak. ‘Part of the tension of the show is in the choices it asks you to make,’ he says. ‘Am I watching the whole stage picture or am I watching an individual virtuosic thing? The beauty and the essence of it occur in the mind of the spectator.’ (Mark Fisher) ■ Underbelly Bristo Square, 0844 545 8252, 3–26 Aug (not 7, 13, 20), 5pm, £16.50–£18.50 (£15.50– £17.50). Previews 31 Jul–2 Aug, £12 (£11).
58 THE LIST FESTIVAL 1–8 Aug 2013
Bored with life and looking for the next high to escape the monotony, the character in 2Faced Dance’s new show couldn’t be more different from the driven young men who are dancing it. Renowned for its intelligent, high-energy performances that blur the lines between contemporary dance, hip hop, acrobatics and ballet, 2Faced is back at the Fringe with its new show, Out of His Skin.
‘We spent some time researching and developing
the subject matter and testing out ideas,' explains choreographer Tamsin Fitzgerald. 'At moments in the work, each dancer plays a different side to that main character.’ With all that testosterone on stage, it would be
easy to focus purely on strong physicality and bravado. But Fitzgerald doesn’t shy away from more emotional content. ‘We like to explore and bring out the different
sides to a man,’ she says, ‘to show men’s tenderness and vulnerability. In Out of His Skin we show the full emotional range of a man, from his animalistic nature to his lowest ebb.’ (Kelly Apter) ■ Zoo Southside, 662 6892, 4–26 Aug (not 7, 14, 21), 3.15pm, £12–£14 (£10–£12). Previews 2 & 3 Aug, £7.
Shows combining circus and dance are springing up all over this year’s Fringe. But they don’t come much more literal than a collaboration between a ballerina and a juggler, as is the case with Cristiana Casadio and Stefan Sing. The duo (also a couple) have been performing together for more than five years, after it all started when Sing clapped eyes on Casadio’s feet.
‘I was giving a workshop at the European Juggling Convention,’ says Sing. ‘In one of the exercises I saw Cristiana’s feet en pointe, and was overwhelmed by the aesthetic. After seeing the whole person, and after speaking, I was sure this was who I wanted to be with. Happily this feeling was on both sides.’
They began working together and were soon successfully touring the German variety circuit. Tangram evolved from the word’s meaning – an ancient seven-shape puzzle, from which it’s possible to create almost every other shape. ‘With simple elements you can create infinite forms,’ says Sing. ‘We have two bodies, with which we are able to create infinite movements and pictures.’ (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 2–25 Aug (not 7, 14, 21), 11.40am, £9–£11 (£7–£9). Preview 1 Aug, £6.