Download Circus Cirk r - bewildering, breathtaking and emotional

CONTEMPORARY
Circus Cirk r - bewildering,
breathtaking and emotional
Elaine Mayson watches a magical, heart-stopper of a show
that mixes dance, athletics and daring circus style
C
irkus Cirkör is founded and directed by Tilde Bjorfors.
She produced her first Swedish Contemporary Circus
company in 1995. The name Cirkör is derived from the
Swedish form of the French words for circus heart:
Cirque Coeur.
It is a fascinating, at times bewildering and often
breath taking show over-brimming with heart in both
the physical and emotional sense!
From the moment the audience enters the
auditorium the magic begins and we are all engaged
in the show. The clown asks people on the front
row to pass back two boards announcing, No Flash
Photography and No mobile phones. He darts around welcoming the audience to their seats
and so the show starts slowly with the introduction of the band, Irya’s Playground. The band is
dressed in red military jackets and the statuesque singer, Iryal Gmeyner wears a long red dress
and tall, feathered black and red headdress. The clown asks a member of the audience to pedal
his bike so that the stage light will stay on. He then introduces the rest of the cast: two trapeze
artists, a juggler, an acrobat and a strange hairy monster dressed in a ballet dress wearing
pointe shoes and sitting in a cage. The clown tilts chairs and stacks them up then effortlessly
balances on the top in a handstand. An accomplished acrobat, the audience have already
fallen in love with him and clap loudly, only in the next instance to be roaring with laughter
as the lights go out and the man from the audience is reprimanded for stopping pedalling.
He resumes and the lights return. The clown lures another member of the audience onto the
stage. She is dressed in a trouser suit and is very timid and nervous and clutches her handbag
to her for protection. These two characters in every day clothes represent the audience. We feel
and participate through them. The girl carries a heart around with her for most of the show
and at times is transported into her heart. These are weird and a bit sinister moments in the
journey.
The band starts to play and the music cocoons us all in a rich and melodic sound. Irya sings
with a warm, resonant voice which captivates the audience’s senses and the vibrations take our
souls spiralling to the heavens.
The acrobat sends a silver ring spinning round the stage and then miraculously he is
spinning inside the ring as it hurtles in circles mesmerising our vision. The act ends and we
show our appreciation in tumultuous applause. The girl and boy find themselves outside
the tent. The circus characters after giving their bows inside the tent at the end of the show
walk outside and set up a long table each character places a champagne bottle on its surface.
The monster steps precariously across from the top of one bottle to the next in a controlled
acrobatic feat. Defying gravity, he turns and smiles at our bemused faces then continues. In the
hushed auditorium he balances on the last bottle and steps down onto the table. The spell is
broken and we all clap with delight.
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The changes from one set to another are so smooth and fluid the transition seems like
magic but it is actually a very well rehearsed team that work brilliantly together to produce
this wonderful illusion. A pole appears from the ceiling to the floor and the timid girl throws
herself at it she scrambles up to the top only to slide at lightening speed to certain injury and
death. The audience gasp in unison but she stops at the brink of destruction. She repeats the
falls in different positions. It is a brilliant piece of nerve-racking acrobatics skilfully enacted in
the girl’s timid character. The curtain falls on the first half of an amazing show.
After a complimentary drink and a chat we make our way back into the packed auditorium.
An expectant and enthusiastic audience are ready for the next part of the journey. A trapeze
bar and a rope appear and a mattress is placed underneath the bar. Both of the female trapeze
artists skim up the rope and begin their act. They make different shapes, the one larger girl
holding the smaller in ever more difficult poses. They swing and catch each other in impossible
positions. We all sit on the edge of our seats tensely watching. After each act we clap in
appreciation at other moments some of the audience whistle but we are all in awe of the skills
and risks that the trapeze artists take for our enjoyment.
The next superlative act is the juggling. The juggler and his two assistants the clown and
boy form a complex and challenging act. The juggler starts with large red rings and throws
them up in wide arcs catching them with dexterity. He is accompanied not by any music
but by the different vocal noises produced by the drummer. How he keeps up the weird and
wonderful sounds is a mystery. He coughs once which is part of the act and the audience
laugh and applaud. The juggler throws in the air a set of skittles and after juggling with these
he swaps to silver sparkling balls, which shoot up like fireworks and then cascade down in
ever increasing circles. Finally he ends the act juggling the red rings and after a few attempts
catches them one by one on his neck.
The finale involves a see saw which is placed between a mattress on one side and a large
fibreglass heart on the other. The acrobat stands on one end of the seesaw and the clown waits
high up on top of the heart. The acrobat looks up at the clown, takes his arms out and then
returns them to his side. The signal has been given the clown jumps onto the upended seesaw
and catapults the acrobat into the air he somersaults twice and bounces onto the mattress.
We all roar with approval. The girl then decides to have a go and the audience encourage
her to try. She throws away her handbag to our lusty cheers and steps onto the seesaw to a
hushed silence she raises and drops her arms. The signal has been set and in a moment she is
catapulted through the air and lands on the mattress. We smile and clap with relief, feeling
that we have accomplished the somersault as well as the girl.
Finally the acrobat is catapulted up into the air and he seems to be in slow motion as he
somersaults once, twice and as he turns for the third time we all gasp in awe. He lands on the
mattress to loud applause. The whole cast take a bow and we give them a standing ovation
clapping and cheering as the bows continue.
We walk out happy and elated but quite exhausted from experiencing every twist and turn
of this humorous, exciting and magical journey. Circus Cirkör.
DECEMBER 2009 / Dance dynamic
Picture by Mats Bäcker
DANCE dynamic / DECEMBER 2009
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OBITUARY
Muriel Large (1923-2009)
Muriel Large, who was well known in the theatre and dance world, both nationally
and in Scotland has died at the age of 85 at her home in Eye, Suffolk.
M
uriel became involved in music administration working
with Harold Holt the music impresario and agent in London
and also with Rudolph Bing at the Edinburgh International
Festival. Through Elizabeth West she met Peter Darrell and
was offered a three-week engagement to manage a tour by
Western Theatre Ballet, a job, which in the event, was to last
for nearly twelve years.
At this period Western Theatre Ballet which was based in Bristol appeared at the
prestigious Jacob’s Pillow Festival in Massachusetts and at the Delacourt Theatre in
Central Park, New York as well as in pantomime to keep the dancers together and in work.
The company, now with Muriel Large as its Administrator, undertook extensive touring
commitments and in 1967 celebrated its tenth anniversary with a season at Sadler’s Wells
Theatre in London. During this period Muriel Large worked valiantly to raise funds and
grants to keep the company in work and to fund the costs of scenery and costumes for
new productions, which were the essential life’s blood of the Company and which was
steadily gaining a very substantial reputation on the international scene.
Meanwhile, in Scotland, following the successful establishment of Scottish Opera,
investigations were made to see if a similar ballet or dance company might be formed.
Margaret Morris, Veronica Bruce, Marjory Middleton and Catherine Marks had all
substantial training schools in Scotland and gave short seasons of performances and it
was thought that the nucleus of a company might be possible by amalgamating these
talents.
However events in the South occurred which led to an alternative solution and in
August 1968 the announcement was made that Western Theatre Ballet would move north
to form Scottish Theatre Ballet and would be funded by the Scottish Arts Council. During
early 1969 Muriel Large and Peter Darrell visited Scotland to audition dancers as recruits
for the new company. Unfortunately none of sufficient standard were found and it was
realised that means would have to be found for the training of new dancers in Scotland.
The new company was based in Scottish Opera’s premises in Glasgow and constant
fears of a merger led to the possibility of Scottish Theatre Ballet becoming only an
adjunct to the now well-established opera company. Much praise is due to Muriel Large
who skilfully led the fledgling company past these hurdles and preserved its future
independence. Under her management, the company undertook extensive touring in
smaller theatres and halls throughout Scotland as well as performing seasons at the
major theatres in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. A system of scholarship classes
were instituted where likely aspirants from the major dance schools in Scotland could
undertake a more intensive training and hopefully provide a new intake of dancers of
suitable standard. The fact that all of these initiatives are now part and parcel of Scottish
Ballet’s activities are due in no small measure to Muriel Large’s efforts in these early years.
The board of Scottish Theatre Ballet (it changed its name to The Scottish Ballet in 1974)
had been comprised of the original Bristol-based members was by now almost entirely
Scottish. Muriel Large decided to leave the company and was succeeded in 1973 by Robin
Anderson. However Muriel Large was soon appointed Administrator of the newly formed
Irish Ballet Company based in Cork. There she set about developing this company along
the lines she had established so successfully both in Bristol and in Scotland and achieved
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considerable success in doing so. Sadly, after about 15 years the Irish government made
some sweeping changes to its funding of the arts and the Irish Ballet Company was forced
to close as a professional company. Muriel left Ireland and settled to retirement in Eye in
Suffolk where she continued to keep contact with her friends in Scotland and London,
whom she regarded as her family, as well as playing a part in the local literary scene.
She was an enthusiastic supporter of the arts and dance in particular and the present
day success of Scottish Ballet is largely dependant of the pioneering work she carried out.
She loved good food; good wine and good company and had a marvellous fund of stories
of her time in arts administration over 60 years. Muriel had a real talent as a letter writer.
Her letters to friends show acute observation of artistic and country life, as well as touches
of comic genius. Her friends will miss her.
Robin Anderson
DECEMBER 2009 / Dance dynamic