A full-throttle ride to the limits of the human body

circa_SInspired by the shape, grammatical functions and sound of the 19th letter of the alphabet, S will fill the stage with the raw immediacy of performers at their physical and emotional limits for a limited number of performances in metropolitan Melbourne in May.

Presented by the Helpmann Award-winning Brisbane-based company, S fuses group acrobatics with intimate emotions. Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz was inspired to create an abstract work of power and joy – inspired by the curves, symmetries and plurality that are all attributes of this one letter.

On a floating white diamond stage, seven extraordinary acrobats bend, fly, contort and hang – sometimes alone, and others in a tangle of bodies. Dramatic acrobatics, athletic aerial acts and powerful solos are all infused with raw immediacy and beauty, featuring the world-renowned Circa ensemble with the intoxicating music of the Kronos Quartet to create a symphony of bodies.

“Darebin Arts is thrilled to present this brave and inventive work by CIRCA, which I have no doubt will leave our community and audiences wanting more,” said Vanessa Pigrum, Manager, Creative Culture.

“Having just won the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award it’s an honour to have such an internationally acclaimed troupe performing on our doorstep.”

A blending of bodies, light, sound and skills, Circa presents a bold new vision of contemporary circus. A place where acrobatics and movement meld into a seamless whole. A celebration of the expressive possibilities of the human body at its extremes.

With work that has toured to 26 countries across six continents since 2006, the company is relevant across cultures, audiences and venues. It’s the appeal of something that is skillful but hasn’t forgotten that to be human is, in the first instance, to feel.

Where other companies tend to add elements (story, character) Circa’s work is a stripped back circus of the heart. It finds new emotional landscapes inside what is generally considered to be a spectacle.

Sometimes sweet and sensuous, sometimes dark or wild, S, brilliantly mixes dance and circus… this acrobatic ballet of great beauty celebrates the human body in all its glory – Canoe, Montreal

S will be presented at three Melbourne venues, Frankston Arts Centre, Gasworks Arts Park and the Darebin Arts Centre on the dates listed below.

S – Circa
Frankston Arts Centre, Davey Street, Frankston
Performance: Wednesday 14 May 2014
Information and Bookings: www.artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au

Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham Street, Albert Park
Performance: Friday 16 & Saturday 17 May 2014
Information and Bookings: www.gasworks.org.au

Darebin Arts Centre, Cnr Bell Street and St Georges Road, Preston
Performance: Tuesday 27 – Thursday 29 May 2014
Information and Bookings: www.darebinarts.com.au/speakeasy

For more information about Circa, visit: www.circa.org.au for details.

Image: S – Circa by Darcy Grant Photography