In This Together?
There is intention, we have motivation… but what for?
We had a jumble of things: found some ideas on the top of the cupboard half forgotten, a little dusty…
I have created fightinGravity in 2017, my last creation with Freak Fusion Cabaret. It was a collection of interesting rigging ideas and counterweight systems, vertical dance and harness work. We’ve been multiple times brainstorming with Lennart to create a sort of fightinGravity 2, as we’ve seen some unexplored potential in the use of these rigging systems. One of these random evening sessions with a glass in our hands led to the following idea: what if Lenni could counterweight my aerial hoop and base me in hand to hand in the same act? Sort of an up and down for me between my aerial apparatus and my base. Is that possible at all? Can that work with a single pulley system, or do we have to half the weight?
We sketched up two different rigging systems to try. In one of them there was only one pulley on the ceiling. Lenni in a harness on the one end of the rope, me on the hoop on the other end. We imagined he’ll be running in circles with voltige technique and keep me in balance while I am spinning.
The other rigging was more similar to the setup we usually use for our counterweighted trapeze act in Freak Fusion Cabaret: The Fallen Angel. There is another pulley on the floor and Lenni is walking horizontally in order to lift me. Only this time we did not half my wait, went with one on one. That made it impossible for him to lift me by himself. He could just about hold me up. This is a brand new universe!
One running joke between us was that there is no one in the public that is watching the base, the ‘unterman’ in a hand to hand act. He is the crucial, but invisible member of a duo that no one remembers. Best interpretation for this phenomena is the Cirkus Cirkör show Undermen. The other inspiration came from a show by Tünet Együttes called Szeánsz. I watched that performance about 4 times in my late teens. There was a scene where they gave a strong light with a narrow light beam to an audience member in the first row and all the performers were striving for their attention. It was wonderful! So we thought: why not give headlamps to our audience and present our usual acro number to see where their attention goes.
Another skill we both love and sort of miss is vertical dance. We got out of the Flock Project in 2018 and haven’t been doing any wallrunning. So we thought of testing some unusual counterweight vertical dance setup. But we all wanted to be on the wall as there is way more possibility in a duo or trio. Could the public be counterweighting us? Is that safe? Well, let’s try!
The application deadline for Circus Next was nearing. We needed a video to apply with. Also there was no way to test some of our visions without a public. So we organised a closed event at Trafo. They were so generous to let us use the space.
