Juggling and ballet
is not something that you often
experience together but renowned
juggler, Sean Gandini and Royal Ballet dancer, Ludovic Ondiviela combined their talents in the show,
4x4 Ephemeral Architectures at Wilson
Center recently. This show continues to
receive rave reviews since it opened in
2015 at the London International Mime Festival. Luckily, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust brought this merger of two different art forms
to Pittsburgh. I thought that this would be my first contemporary circus experience but this was something much
better- something beautifully intimate!
Reflection
When art forms collide sometimes you just experience
a brand new entity- like (Day 240 )where classical violin united with hip hop in Black
Violin or (Day 175) where bagpipes united with rock music in Red
Hot Chili Pipers. It’s like mixing two different breeds of dogs, you
end up with something entirely new!
 |
| Meeting Sean Gandini |
Four jugglers and four ballet dancers emerged out of
a foggy haze as if to represent the birth of something new and it sure was! The
combination of both fit together like pieces of a puzzle as they shared the space in an intimate manner. This was
no circus act but a masterful work of
art (watch here).
Gandini choreographed
the juggling to match the beauty of ballet. As he put it, “Juggling and ballet both work in time and space, so my initial
thought was to put them together …ballet
has a sense of classicism and beauty, there is a right and wrong, and juggling does
not have that, so I was intrigued to
imagine that in juggling…”.
The show
gave juggling the precision and
structure usually reserved for ballet. The juggling mimicked the dance or did the
dance mimic the movement of the juggling? It was hard to tell because they were intertwined (Gandini explains here).
The movement was
performed with original chamber music
which set the backdrop for the show’s “classicism”. I particularly enjoyed the
fluidity of the continued pin rolling on
the stage as the dancers, fitting on the jugglers backs, moved their arms with
the pins. The dancers shadowed the
motion of the pins. It was like watching the rolling of a wave which relaxed
and mesmerized.
 |
| Pin rolled as arms mimicked- memorizing |
In one piece, both juggler
and dancer were paired as if they were in a graceful ballet adagio. Their arms either
juggling or dancing flowed through each others’ space. I don’t think the
English language has a word to describe it but
to me, it was all so ”beautifully intimate” !
I will never think of juggling in that same way
again after this show. I intend to continue
to explore the unique shows that the Pittsburgh Cultural
Trust brings to the city.
Spiritual Reflection
Under his direction,
the whole body is fitted together
perfectly. As each part does its own special work, It helps the other parts
grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love (Ephesians
4:16)
Sean Gandini explains show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oU2Z-z2DK4
4x4 Ephemeral Architectures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAdOu-TDQ0w