By
Phil Leckman
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Acrobatic show opens tonight at Centennial Hall
When it comes to physical grace and power, few people even begin to approach the prowess of a world-class gymnast.
Aeros, a new concept in dance performance coming to Centennial Hall tonight and tomorrow night, attempts to boost the impressive physical abilities of Olympic-caliber gymnasts, fusing athleticism into art.
For the most part, however, the acrobatic feats and gravity-defying stunts that typify great gymnastics have been most visible in Olympic competition - intense, one-on-one showdowns where the slightest falter means the difference between victory and heart-breaking defeat.
While the performers in Aeros are athletes, Daniel Ezralow, gold medal-winning Romanian Gymnastics Federation choreographer and co-creator, emphasized that the event is a work of artistic theater, very different from competitive gymnastics.
"This is not a gymnastics exhibition - there are no routines done in this show," Ezralow said. "A routine is done because there's a book that says what moves you must do, what deductions must be taken off if you bend your knee or curve your arm. (Instead), we're looking at the expression of the body."
On the contrary, Ezralow said, Aeros is a hybrid, "a new form, not something that I think has been done before. What you will see is a new form of theater, with bodies that fly through the air." He added that both acrobatic and theatrical elements are on display.
A collaboration between choreographers Ezralow, Moses Pendleton, David Parsons and members of the gold medal-winning Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Aeros was originally produced in Italy in 1997 as a one-time event. Its success convinced the producers to build it into a full-fledged show.
"Once we did it, we understood the potential of it - we knew we could go further with it," said Ezralow. "That's when we brought it to America and decided we wanted to expand upon it."
Working with the gymnasts posed an interesting challenge for Ezralow and his collaborators. Although their physical abilities, far in excess of most conventional dancers, offered unique opportunities, their artistic sensibilities often required fine-tuning.
"Certainly they have extreme movement potential," Ezralow said. "They're trained since they're six years old to be upside down, and that kind of potential is a fabulous thing for any choreographer. On the other hand, they don't have the same sensibilities as a dancer - a dancer is much more aware of the environment being theater."
The result, Ezralow said, is a performance that blends the best of both worlds.
"There is definitely an explosive, aerobic, aeroballistic sense to it," he explained. "We've been very conscious of wanting to do that - wanting to let it explode into the air."
But the piece is conscious of other moods as well, Ezralow said.
"One piece is just around a table - four guys sitting around a table."
Ezralow said he expects audiences to be electrified.
"Believe me, you'll be elated," he said. "Audiences cheer, they stand up, they love it. We've gotten standing ovations at every show we've run."
What audiences respond to, Ezralow said, will be a theatrical work, not just gymnastics.
"We are trying to create emotions, responses, with love, humor, laughter, pain, sorrow - these are the things that we like to touch upon," Ezralow explained. "You go more towards those feelings in a show like this, rather than 'oh my god wasn't that a great flip?'"
