Acrobatic “˜Aeros’ takes fanciful flight in Royce

  UCLA Performing Arts "Aeros" performers take the Royce
Hall stage Jan. 25-28.

By Chris Young
Daily Bruin Contributor

“Aeros” brought flight to almost a thousand people
at Royce Hall on Saturday. The audience experienced the vicarious
thrill through the performers onstage, in the world premier of
“Aeros,” a new development in performing art.

World-class athletes teamed up with choreographers and the
creators of “STOMP” to produce “Aeros,” an
amazing journey into surreal worlds and temporary weightlessness.
The performers experienced flight for most of the show, defying
gravity again and again in sketches of incredible physical
virtuosity and prowess.

“Aeros” is the first performing arts project using a
national gymnastics team; it features athletes from the National
Sports and Aerobics Gymnastics Team of the Romanian Gymnastics
Federation.

There is something beautiful in “Aeros” about the
human body suspended in air, challenging gravity’s will to
return to earth. Whether it is hanging from the ceiling on a pair
of rings or leaping into the air and executing a number of twists
and turns, the members of “Aeros” turn their acrobatics
into an amazing spectacle.

Great set designs and props in “Aeros” transport the
observer into distant lands and surreal worlds. In one sketch, it
appears that radioactive headless humanoid forms are walking
stilt-like contraptions across a pitch-black landscape in a state
of perplexity and confusion. In reality, they are Day-Glo people
walking upside-down on their hands.

In another example, the curtain parts to show an apparition, a
giant head that slowly turns and pulsates with an inner energy.
Sometimes it is grotesque and sometimes it is wondrous.

“Aeros” sprinkles subtle humor throughout, lending
another dimension to the performance; silent humor in this case is
more powerful than spoken humor. One recurring example is a man
brandishing a rose chasing after a woman who seems more annoyed
than surprised at his gift. Half-running and half-cartwheeling
around the stage, he finally catches up to her and offers her the
rose. She smiles, takes it and flips him onto the ground like a rag
doll.

Another humorous example is a group of four men and their silent
one-upmanship. One time they must share two stools among all of
them, and one of the stools is apparently more appealing than the
other. Part of the fun is that they take the competition completely
seriously, so embroiled in outdoing the others in skill that they
don’t realize how trivial the struggle is.

One occasional problem throughout the performance is that the
performers, while incredible athletes and acrobats, are not
necessarily dancers as well. They execute jumps, leaps, and spins
with incredible ease, but occasionally one can see they are not
trained in dance.

Notably, in one act, a man and a woman engage in a slow-motion
dance where she twists and bends her body around his, and he passes
her body around his own like a pretzel. Although they expertly
contort around each other, sharing an amazing physical presence,
the act seems emotionally lifeless. There could be much more
substance underneath the surface, but they only seem to be going
through the motions.

Also, during a couple of large floor aerobatics, there are so
many performers onstage leaping and spinning around each other, the
scene becomes confusing and circus-like. They could probably
achieve the same artistic feeling using less onstage action.

Altogether, “Aeros” conjures up amazing images and
almost impossible flying acts throughout the show. What the
performers sometimes lack in artistic rhythm, they make up in
energy and sheer gravity-defying precision. As long as you keep in
mind that these are gymnasts performing things they don’t
normally do, the show is stunning.

DANCE: “Aeros” plays in Royce Hall
Jan. 25-28. For tickets or info contact the Central Ticket Office
online at (310) 825-2101, www.performingarts.ucla.edu.