Raw Art, post-circus physical acts of beauty, grace and skill
November 10, 2015 7:33 PM Subscribe
Forget about circus. Forget about glittering costumes, caged animals and clowns with their old hat jokes. Circus can be alternative…This is the vision of Ukrainian director Taras Pozdnyakov with his Kiev-based circus project Raw Art, "post-circus," a response to the large-scale blockbusters, such as Cirque du Soleil and Franco Dragone. Acts focus on individual and small group performances, such as the award-winning structure-free gymnastic performance by the brothers Iroshnikov, and solo performances by Sergey Timofeev and Alexander Koblikov. There is a trio of jugglers, choreographed jumprope routines, ring work and much more on YouTube and Vimeo.
I would consider the 'ring work' juggling. I too prefer these performances to Soleil. When I see an extraordinary performer in Soleil, I honestly want to see just them and more of them, and less of everything else. When Soleil's art is made up of non-extraordinary performances (which much of it is, IMO), I'm just not impressed (even if the overall staging is great).
More of this in performance art please.
posted by el io at 9:59 PM on November 10, 2015
More of this in performance art please.
posted by el io at 9:59 PM on November 10, 2015
If you watch only one video from this post, make it the one with the brothers Iroshnikov. Wow.
posted by brokkr at 12:38 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by brokkr at 12:38 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I saw Archaos perform a couple of times in the 1990s, and Pozdynyakov seems to working in their traditon.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:58 AM on November 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 12:58 AM on November 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
Oh yeah? I'll see your Raw Art and raise you some Acrobatic Gymnastics.
posted by the_blizz at 8:16 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by the_blizz at 8:16 AM on November 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
With the exception of music and costuming, most of this is very much in the circus tradition. One other exception might be the "ring work" routine which seems to be derived mostly from rhythmic gymnastics...
posted by jim in austin at 9:00 AM on November 11, 2015
posted by jim in austin at 9:00 AM on November 11, 2015
I think that's the point - going back to certain roots of circus traditions (and acrobatic gymnastics, for the brothers Iroshnikov), focusing on physical skill and cutting out the glitz and glamour of major "blockbuster" performances.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:57 AM on November 11, 2015
posted by filthy light thief at 9:57 AM on November 11, 2015
filthy light thief: "I think that's the point - going back to certain roots of circus traditions (and acrobatic gymnastics, for the brothers Iroshnikov ), focusing on physical skill and cutting out the glitz and glamour of major "blockbuster" performances."
I'll agree to the second half (cutting out the glitz and glamour), but I don't really get the first half of that statement. When I saw Soleil, the performances themselves looked exactly like these; the only difference was the garishness of the costumes and sets. The focus, though, was solidly on the physical skill of the performances. So it's not so much "less glitz, more focus on physical skill" as "less glitz, same focus on physical skill".
(I mean, I guess one could say "Focus is a zero-sum game, so a decrease in focus in one area must automatically increase the focus in another area", but I think that's just playing with percentages. If you have an acrobat spend 100 hours a week practicing their performance, and a designer spend 100 hours a week designing costumes and set decorations, then 50% of the focus is on the acrobatics, and 50% is on visuals. If you fire the designer, now 100% of the focus is on the acrobatics. But that doesn't actually affect the stage performance at all. You could just as easily increase Raw Art's focus on the physical performances by not playing any music, or just having using full lighting with no spotlights or lighting changes)
posted by Bugbread at 9:37 PM on November 11, 2015
I'll agree to the second half (cutting out the glitz and glamour), but I don't really get the first half of that statement. When I saw Soleil, the performances themselves looked exactly like these; the only difference was the garishness of the costumes and sets. The focus, though, was solidly on the physical skill of the performances. So it's not so much "less glitz, more focus on physical skill" as "less glitz, same focus on physical skill".
(I mean, I guess one could say "Focus is a zero-sum game, so a decrease in focus in one area must automatically increase the focus in another area", but I think that's just playing with percentages. If you have an acrobat spend 100 hours a week practicing their performance, and a designer spend 100 hours a week designing costumes and set decorations, then 50% of the focus is on the acrobatics, and 50% is on visuals. If you fire the designer, now 100% of the focus is on the acrobatics. But that doesn't actually affect the stage performance at all. You could just as easily increase Raw Art's focus on the physical performances by not playing any music, or just having using full lighting with no spotlights or lighting changes)
posted by Bugbread at 9:37 PM on November 11, 2015
This is a great post. Those gymnast brothers...DAMN!!!
posted by OmieWise at 10:38 AM on November 13, 2015
posted by OmieWise at 10:38 AM on November 13, 2015
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posted by Dip Flash at 9:21 PM on November 10, 2015