The Circus is in Town!

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Inside Out by Cirkus Cirkor at BAM.

Wow. Incredible.

Trailer here: http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=1269

For me, easily tied with Big Dance Theater's Comme Toujours (Here I Stand) for best dance-theater of Fall 09.

And yes, even though it was indeed a circus piece, complete with clowning, juggling, and death-defying and breathtaking stunts, I believe it was ultimately a piece of dance-theater. As I said to one of my friends after the show, "If you take away the acrobatics and change their costumes, you would basically have a Pina Bausch piece."

In fact, I think that Cirkus Cirkor was much more related to the world of Pina Bausch than Ringling Bros. Something like Ringling Bros is ultimately about cranking out stunts- whereas Cirkus Cirkor was about creating moments. Inside Out had some absolutely incredible moments, where I held my breath, some where I cheered, some where I laughed a lot. But I was so impressed that Cirkus Cirkor didn't always go big, and some of the small, soft moments between performers were the most meaningful. Inside Out created a meaningful and fantastic world, that made the piece feel unique and expertly structured- just like a great piece of dance-theater.

The music was also a huge element of the show- there was a true dialogue between the music and the actions on stage (and at some points, it was a literal dialogue: when one of the jugglers dropped one of the ten rings he was juggling, and the drummer stopped and said, "Man, you suck!"). I don't believe that this is the case for traditional circus, while obviously music is (usually) a very important part of dance.

Ultimately, whatever category you believe this piece should be in, this show is absolutely not to be missed. Playing this week only at BAM!