Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Recirquel Company’s NON SOLUS melds circus arts with dance, morosely

• By drediman
• February 16, 2019
• No Comments

The Recirquel Company performs “Non Solus” at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House.

Last night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House, I caught a performance of the Recirquel Company’s Non Solus (which translates in English to “not alone”). One of the main pursuits of the Budapest-based dance company is to infuse the inherently crowd-pleasing circus arts with the creative and aesthetic depth and versatility of contemporary dance.

For the most part, creator Bence Vági has succeeded. The piece, which has been choreographed for two performers (acrobat Renátó Illés and dancer Gábor Zsíros), begins hauntingly with one of them emerging from what appears to be the primordial murkiness of creation itself (the production has been thoughtfully and atmospherically designed). He’s soon joined by another dancer, and together they proceed to elegantly perform a succession of tastefully curated and seamlessly connected circus-inspired acts inspired by the human experience.

Even if the overall impact ultimately fails to veer very far from acts I’ve seen from the likes of Cirque du Soleil, I was still very much in awe of the level of skill on display. I was particularly impressed by the level of trust involved between the two equally sized and proportioned men (a rare occurrence in both the dance and cirque spheres), who were also both absolutely stunning to look at. Indeed, they breathtakingly took dangerous extra risks – net-less, mind you – throughout the evening, thrilling the enthusiastic audience. But despite the inarguable talent involved, a certain morose sameness eventually set in, which was only emphasized by the persistent seriousness of Non Solus‘s Baroque/electronic score.

RECOMMENDED

NON SOLUS
Dance
Recirquel Company at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
1 hour (without an intermission)
Through February 16