WHAT WILL HAVE BEEN FESTIVAL SPIEGELTENT- SATURDAY 29TH OCTOBER WRITTEN BY CLEO GRAVETT There was certainly a magical ambience for the final night of this performance in the Spiegeltent, lucky enough to host globetrotting Australian contemporary circus group Circa before their next adventure. The show began with figures creeping from amongst the audience, and soon enough we were introduced to the entrancing trio of acrobats. The two men and single woman had phenomenal fluidity in their movement and chemistry with each other - their teamwork reminiscent of three cogs in a well-oiled machine as they flipped, balanced and lifted each other through the air. The trio then became a quartet with the introduction of accompaniment from a live violinist, who played melancholy pieces in the background of the individual showcases of the acrobats- at one point a performer was suspended from the top of the Spiegeltent by only a rope around her neck, showing both control and powerful delicacy. The show was also at points heart-warming; lazy Gypsy music accompanied a scene that showed everything from support, to slapstick, to one character inventing the wheel! Such a performance pushed the bodies of the performers and the minds of the audience, and their ease in their art allowed them to tell an entire story without using words. There were a few tumbles and full-frontal face falls (fortunately pre-planned) for good measure, and a continuum of near-misses kept the audience on tenterhooks, but overall this performance showed humanity at its most raw and most unlimited. From the first cartwheel it was obvious that this was no ordinary acrobatics show, and by the end of the hour performance this spectacle had left pools of sweat on the stage, and an experience unforgettable in the hearts of the audience. I look forward to seeing Circa again somewhere in the world, at some point in the future.
WHAT WILL HAVE BEEN FESTIVAL SPIEGELTENT- SATURDAY 29TH OCTOBER WRITTEN BY CLEO GRAVETT There was certainly a magical ambience for the final night of this performance in the Spiegeltent, lucky enough to host globetrotting Australian contemporary circus group Circa before their next adventure. The show began with figures creeping from amongst the audience, and soon enough we were introduced to the entrancing trio of acrobats. The two men and single woman had phenomenal fluidity in their movement and chemistry with each other - their teamwork reminiscent of three cogs in a well-oiled machine as they flipped, balanced and lifted each other through the air. The trio then became a quartet with the introduction of accompaniment from a live violinist, who played melancholy pieces in the background of the individual showcases of the acrobats- at one point a performer was suspended from the top of the Spiegeltent by only a rope around her neck, showing both control and powerful delicacy. The show was also at points heart-warming; lazy Gypsy music accompanied a scene that showed everything from support, to slapstick, to one character inventing the wheel! Such a performance pushed the bodies of the performers and the minds of the audience, and their ease in their art allowed them to tell an entire story without using words. There were a few tumbles and full-frontal face falls (fortunately pre-planned) for good measure, and a continuum of near-misses kept the audience on tenterhooks, but overall this performance showed humanity at its most raw and most unlimited. From the first cartwheel it was obvious that this was no ordinary acrobatics show, and by the end of the hour performance this spectacle had left pools of sweat on the stage, and an experience unforgettable in the hearts of the audience. I look forward to seeing Circa again somewhere in the world, at some point in the future.