Cuisine et Confessions - inviting the audience to join them in the kitchen around their favourite food

Some weeks ago I saw Cuisine et Confessions with 7 Fingers with some friends that had never seen contemporary circus before.

The show had already started when we got in; the artists were on stage messing around with some kitchen tools and things and it made a nice ambience. They already started to make some contact with the audience by asking things, making my friend prove that she could break an egg with just one hand and talking about food.

The interactions with the audience was the thing that made this show stand out compared to other contemporary circuses I have seen. It proved that interaction with the audience can be made even if we were seated in an old theatre, and they did it both by talking to us, come out to us and letting people up on stage.

After the show 7 fingers were inviting us to share some food with them

The show consisted of some big numbers with seamless transitions in between, and both were very good. The solo numbers were accompanied by the artist talking about their memories and relations to different kinds of food, which gave this show a very personal touch. This personal touch, the food theme and the interaction with the audience made the performers seem very human and "real", as an opposition to other circus shows where the performers sometimes feel like humans from another world.

The pace of the numbers with the small things in between gave the show good dynamics. Sometimes it is very focused on one performer or one thing, but in the big group acrobatic numbers there are so much going on that I could watch it again to see all the things I didn't this time. Not all the performers had a solo number, and it is not a bad thing but I somehow came to expect them to have that and found myself waiting and wondering if the show was really over when all the performers didn't made a solo.

My friend who had never seen contemporary circus before were both amazed by the circus skills, and surprised that there were so much "theatre" in it. The interaction made us involved and the playfulness took away the prejudices of "seriousness and deep subjects" that some people might expect from contemporary circus.

I really liked this show and I would recommend it for both people that are new to contemporary circus as already interested ones, as it is a friendly show that connects with the audience around a theme that is very personal so everyone can relate to it.

5 degrees by Twisted feet - dance about global warming that needs more things in between its big innovative dances

Twisted feet is a Gothenburg based dance company that had their premier of their latest production "5 degrees" this Thursday, which I attended. Since I have seen many of the dance company Bounce's shows I had really high expectations to "5 degrees", especially since it aspired to build bridges between dance and global warming.

During the indtroduction speeches at the bar upstarirs many of them praised the face that this was a bigger project that included school shows and even an app for education about global warming, as well as this dance show.

I think that it is indeed a brave subject to take on for a dance show, and it is explained in the show when a boy finds a rubrics cube from the future that talk about global warming. The rubics cube is talking with a prerecorded voice, and answered with big movements from the dancer. For each degree there are some dances and also a set location that sets the mood of the dance.

The dances are very innovative in my eyes with position of the dancers, rythm and patterns. There was a lot of energy in the dances and the timing with changes of which part that will be in the spotlight are very good. The dances are very different from each "degree" (and location) and adds variety. All the dances are big group dances with all the dancers on stage.

The show uses a lot of technical help in innovative and new ways, from the voice and rubrics cube to let the audience be underwater with the help of blue lasers.

Twisted feet's "5 degrees". Picture borrowed from fotoscenen.se

"5 degrees" aims very high, but I think that the theme is overly explained in the show. The pace is too slow when the boy is talking to the rubrics cube, and I would have wished for more dance in between the big dance acts, both to give the show more dance and less words and to add even more variation, maybe with some duos or solos? Now there are to sharp edges that makes too sharp contrasts and not enough with dynamics. The big dance numbers could have stand out even more with some company from other dances around them.

The scenography with book shelves and wallpapers doesn't bring much to the show, but it takes time to move them out from the stages. I think the show could have done as good without them.

The lack of pace with the talking parts seems even longer since it was not clear to me who these parts where aimed at. Since it was in English, children younger than maybe 13 would have had difficulties to understand the information, and anyone old enough to understand English know at least this basic things about global warming that the voice were telling us.

Because of this, my favourite parts was in a windy mood, with two dancers that looked like the where caught by the wind. The mood was enhanced with hanging fabrics to create the feeling of being up in the sky.

I think it was too much talking an not as much dancing, with some lack of dynamics. The big dances with all the dancers were very good and innovative, but needs to be accompanied with better things in between.

Twisted feet's "5 degrees"

Choreography and directions: Twisted feet
Script: Christoer Brocker and Twisted feet
Clothes: Majli af Ekman
Scenography: Torulf Wetterot
Dancers: Mona Namer, Marco Whilborg, Johnny Nguten, Marcel Gomes, Denny Hultén, Anna Näsström, Pawel Pablo Krupa, Daniel Koivunen, Mia Hellberg and Felix Iljeh.

Twisted feet homepage

La cage aux folles - a review

For quite a while ago we saw La cage aux folles together with the circus club at Norrbottensteatern.

Even though this was supposed to be a mnusical, it hade borrowed some elements from circus, when they had more of these "singing acts" where we where supposed to get glipes from what the audience at the club where the story is set see.

I remember it almost like a varity show with different acts. I was supprised that even though La Cage aux Folles was first written in the 80ths, the subject and the musical as a whole still was up to date today, dealing with subjects as cross dressing, core family or not, expectation from the society and HBQ realted questions.

My two favourite thing that I am not sure is included att all La Cage aux Folles was the fact that thwy at the end where wearing the Kiruna Hockey match sweater in all the rainbow colors (since Kiruna Hockey is the first HBTQ certified hockey team in Sweden) and that the parents dressed up as the Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst, with her dress and beard.

There where many beautiful costumes, good dance acts and singing acts.

At several points, one of the dads say "The circus horse gets ready again" in a sad voice as he is about to get changed to enter the stage. This still points out that circus still have a very low status in society.

As a whole, I really enjoyed La Cage aux Folles.

A calm plastic bag air ballet - An Afternoon of Foehn

An Afternoon of Foehn - Version 1
Umeå 7 Sept 15:00


Picture source

This might have been my favourite performance during the whole Umeå contemporary circus festival. The program said "A plastic bag dances across the stage". After seeing this show I now understand how plastic bags can dance.

An Afternoon of Foehn is a solo show and starts out very peacefully and slow. A man dressed like an old sailor entered the stage, and almost ritually he makes a "mini human" out of two plastic bags. The he slowly turn on the fans that surrounds the stage, slowly one by one. The fans make some whirlwind that the seaman can control i different ways to make the "mini plastic human" dance around in the wind to a classic music peace. It really is peaceful and beautiful.

The the story starts with more dancing platic humans, some interactin, and umbrella and different mood changes. The end is filled with melancholy and almost made me cry, so I don't want to give it away. In some was it reminds me of  Studie Ghibli films.

Picture source

This is sometimes labeled as a childrens show, but I would recommend this so any age. It is more of a performance than circus, but still full of emotions and afterthought.

Dreamy space bubble - Underart in Gothenburg

I am a big fan of Cirkus Cirkör's productions and shows, but I have never been a big fan of their trailers. I have seen Inside Out, Wear it like a Crown and Knitted Peace and loved the shows but not the trailers for them. The trailer for Underart is 10 minuets long with a man standing on his head in a fish bowl, and that it all. It is not very up beat, but it is interesting. The trailer certainly don't give anything away.

Underart is a clean and futuristic show about the director and former acrobat Olle Strandberg's crach when he broke his neck, and the way back again. I could imagine that in that jump, it felt like time was slowing down and during just a second a thousand thoughts would run through your mind. That is the feeling I got from the show.

There where very different circus skills showed in this show from  Methinee Wongtrakoon (acrobat), Alexander Dam (street dance), Matias Salmenaho (juggling and acrobatics), Iris Pelz and Christpher Schlunk (partner acrobatics). I especially liked the group performances with hoola hoop or som kind of dance where enev the musicians join in!

Image Source

Methinee Wongtrakoon does some interesting movement, maybe reflecting how it is when you loose the control of your body. The street dance by Alexander Dam was also very good with his locking moves. he also did a balancing act that I dont want to give away but I watched from beginning to end with out closing my eyes even if it was a very slow paced number.

The partner and group acrobatics was impressive with the strength and coordination between Matias Salmenaho, Iris Pelz and Christpher Schlunk.

The muic for this show is made by the duo Ripple and Murmur (Anna Ahnlund and Andreas Tengblad), and I really like their dreamy electronic sound. I would actually have been very happy to attend a concert with only them as well. Their music matches the visual theme and the acts well. They both play the guitar, bass, violin, and my favourite instrument theremin!

Even though I liked the individual parts I couldn't really see the connection to Olle Strandbergs crash landing, and the tension and pace (with some exceptions) was quite the same. I think it has more potential that the current state, with some more changes. I would have liked to see more from this show, and to me this one doesn't beat Knitting Peace or Wear it like a Crown.

But if you have seen the trailer and then the show: Don't worry: There will be headstands in glass bowls!

Image source

Cirkus Cirkör's Underart homepage (SWE/ENG)

Mezmerizing lightbulbs - Glitch at Umeå contemporary circus festival

It has been a while and I have still many thoughts and reviews from the Umeå contemporary circus festival that I want to share with you!

Now is the time to write about  G.L.I.T.C.H, a solo juggling show by Johan Wellton. The show had a sneak premiere in Umeå before the official premiere th 18th of september at Vara konserthus.

During the festival I heard a lot of discussion about if circus i art or entertainment, and when I ased the writer Margareta Sörensson, she answered that she though La Soirée was entertainment, but G.L.I.T.C.H was art.

When we entered the room, tha show had already started. Johan Wellton was on the stage, holding a monologe very expressive about the stress in life and not knowing it which direction to go. While he was holding this monologe, he did some really amazing juggling tricks that could have been the finale for most other jugglers. But Wellton is lost in is thought, thinking about his life doing this technically advanced juggling.

"-And I was waiting for her, but she never came...I thought maybe we could have a nice time and drink some tea. Where is she? I made two cups of tea, put them nicely on the table, arranged them, rearranged them, and waited for her. She had still not showed up... and the tea got cold, so I made two new cups of tea. But what should I do with the other cold cups of tea? take them away, and pretend that I haven't been waiting, or leave them so she could see them? The two new cups got cold too, and she didn't arrive, so I made two new cups of tea! But what to do?!"

This is a part of the monolouge that I remember the clearest for some reson (translated and writted down very freely though). He was talking faster and faster and I felt familiar with this feeling that you are "juggling you everyday life" fast and fast but have no idea of why we do it. Why do we stress and care so much about things that may not matter? Why are we not happy with nothing but the perfect? My feeling was that Wellton was addressing these questions in the first part of the show.

Then it all speeds up even more, until things set on fire, fall from the floor and Wellton is almost angry and stressed and suddendly finds himself crashed on the floor.

Picture from www.johanwellton.com

The the show suddendly changes everything and the rig with the pendulum lights is suddendly present. It all consist of a bar in the roof, with cords of hangling lighted light bulbs. I was mesmerized just by the view of this.

Wellton then starts to "juggle" the hangling light bulbs i different ways to a soft background music in enjoyment. Besides the patters made from the swinging light bulbs, I also appriciated the technical aspects of the light bulb rig. There was one part where Wellton was playing music by juggling them, with a camera regristrating where the light bulbs where to give the corresponding sound.

From beeing a chaotic and hectic show, it goes to a very peaceful lightbulb swinging, and I could have be watching that part longer. In the end, he is almost not touching the bulb, but just like us watching them making their own patterns in the air with a light trace following them. Maybe the lightbulbs are ideas and thoughts that are finally breaking free?

Visit Johan Welltons homepage (SWE/ENG)

Read more about GLITCH (In Swedish)

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Unexpected expressional acrobatics - Knee Deep review

At Umeå contemporary circus festival Knee Deep was completely sold out, so I was so happy that it was possible to see them in Piteå yesterday. In Piteå, I was surprised that it was not so many people in the audience, but I really liked the scale of the scene: It was a small theater hall and I was on the first row.

Knee Deep starts with the acrobat Emma Serjant walking on eggs, setting the egg and wine bottle theme that runs loosely through the show. Just like eggs, the human body can be both fragile but strong when many of them are put together. When they drop the egg from at three man high, it also reminds us how easily it breaks and that circus always involves some form of risk.

Knee Deep is a four person acrobatic show performed by Circus Casus from Brisbane, Australia. The show has a decorticated set with almost nothing on stage except the performers. The show starts with a routine of group acrobatics that shows amazing skills from the acrobats. The acrobatic numbers are mixed up with mostly aerial, but also some other acts.

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The group acrobatic number where the one I liked the most. More towards the end there were one performed to more upbeat music that I preferred to the first one, but I really like how they moved in different way and did some very unexpected moves. It was refreshing to see that even if the group consist of one woman and three men, the all base and fly equally through the routine. Sometimes I really wished that there where more elements borrowed from dance to fill in the spaces between the acrobatic moves. I liked the part in the end where one of them did some arm movements like he was controlling the others with a force to do some moves.

The aerial parts seemed a little unpolished in this performance. I could see some mistakes in the silks, but they where well covered up. The straps started up by some moves that looked like they where from rope to me, which I have not seen much. In the end, there was a nice four person group trapeze. In this trapeze act they switched a lot between the moves and who would do them, but they where never all four in the trapeze. The aerial contributed with some change to the acrobatic acts.

There was no manipulation in the show expect from a hula hoop act. Men are not often seen on stage doing hula hoop, so it was nice to see. It started of with three of them on stage, and I thought about how we did hula hoop on the school yard. Then the two in the background "grow up" and stops hooping, while the one in the middle continue and does a nice little routine. Some other review I have read though this didn't fit into the show, but I liked the unexpected variation in the pace of the show.

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My favorite act in the show was actually not the last act, but the later group acrobatics because I could see the joy in their eyes while doing all their acrobatic tricks.

To sum this up, I enjoyed some of the unconventional parts of the show, as well as the intense expressions of the performers. There are some details to be improved, but to sum it up Knee Deep is an unpolished diamond.

Link to Casus Circus homepage