Agility and grace converge in Royce Hall performance
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 10, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Davidson and Choy Members of the Romanian Gymnastics Team
perform in "Aeros." The show begins its run today in Royce
Hall.
By Michael Rosen-Molina
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Sailing gracefully across the stage, the dancers in Aeros seem
to almost defy gravity.
Part of the reason for their agility might be the special floors
they use, but mainly it’s because they aren’t really
dancers ““ they’re gymnasts.
With gravity defying feats and spectacular visuals, the
performance Aeros will make its world debut today at Royce Hall.
Not quite dance, but not quite gymnastics, Aeros brings Olympic
athletes to the stage in a celebration of physicality.
“It’s hard to say what Aeros is,” said John
Luckacovic, the show’s producer. “It’s almost
easier to say what it’s not.”
“It’s neither an athletic dance company nor a
gymnastics demonstration; it’s a melding of very powerful
ways of expressing oneself through movement,” he continued.
“It becomes a whole new animal when you take it out of a
sterile gymnasium environment.”
The cast members of Aeros are all members of the Romanian
Gymnastics Team who are further trained in sports aerobics. Sports
aerobics is a new form of gymnastics inspired by the aerobic fad of
the last decade that incorporates more tactical, refined aerobic
exercise movements.
“They are not at all dancers,” said choreographer
Daniel Ezralow of the performers. “Dance doesn’t exist
in their training. Sometimes rhythmic gymnasts have some dance
training, but the rest have no dance training at all.”
“You’re speaking a different language and you have
to learn the different language,” continued Ezralow. “I
think the key is that we all learn how to adapt the physical
language of these bodies. These are phenomenal bodies that fly
through space.”
Aeros combines the work of internationally renowned
choreographers Daniel Ezralow, David Parsons, and Moses
Pendleton.
“Originally, the three choreographers each did three
different sections, but then they came back to talk about what the
show needed,” said Luckacovic. “The show doesn’t
have a traditional structure; we’re going for a more unified
look and vision.”
Luckacovic compared the organization of Aeros to the rhythmic
step performance, “STOMP.”
“Like “˜STOMP,’ it’s made up of short
vignettes,” Luckacovic said. “There’s the same
sense of visual rhythm, the collision of aesthetic and
athletic.”
In one segment, for instance, the gymnasts, dressed in silver
briefs and bathing caps, bounce off unseen trampolines to hurl past
each other into the darkness of the stage’s wings.
The performers almost seem to fly, and the impression is
bolstered as the dancers are lit only above the waist. In addition,
a translucent screen hides their legs as a swirling collage of
colors projected onto the screen adds to the spellbinding aura of
the performance.
Helping the gymnasts to defy gravity, special air pillows are
hidden beneath the floor mats. Unlike regular dance floors, which
are built to absorb the impact of a dancer’s feet, these
special mats are designed to absorb the impact and to give a slight
rebound, helping the performers to fly effortlessly through the
air.
“It’s like a kid walking across his parents’
bed,” Luckacovic said.
A celebration of pure movement, Aeros forgoes a traditional,
linear plot. With fragments of a story only subtly implied, Aeros
encourages the audience to find its own meaning in the piece.
“People will read whatever story they want to in
it,” Luckacovic said. “The vignettes explore the visual
rhythm of the characters. Many people interpreted
“˜STOMP’ as the story of the working man, even though it
was not necessarily intended that way. It’s the same way with
Aeros.”
Working with athletes as opposed to trained dancers is a new
experience for Ezralow.
“If you ask a dancer to do a double flip, it’s quite
difficult,” he said. “You ask these guys, and
it’s instant. By the same token you ask someone to walk
across a stage to a piece of classical music and a dancer can make
it look beautiful. These guys can have a very difficult time just
walking across the stage.”
Another challenge was simply coming to terms with the different
mind-sets of dancers and gymnasts.
“A dancer thinks in certain terms, like when they are
trying to do a double tour or something,” Ezralow said.
“Really a dancer is looking for an artistry of how to express
him or herself. That part is different, and the gymnasts are
learning as we go along.”
The stage is a new venue for the performers in Aeros, one that
requires a totally different mentality than sports
competitions.
“A big difference is just that they aren’t competing
here,” Luckacovic said. “Here, though, the goal is to
cooperate. I’ve never seen anyone work together this way. In
a competition, they work all day long for one specific moment. In a
performance, however, it becomes an ongoing process.”
Dance: Aeros performs at Royce Hall Jan. 11-14
and Jan. 25-28. Thursday and Friday performances begin at 8 p.m.;
Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. For ticketing
information, contact the Central Ticket Office at (310)
825-2101.
