Poetics: A Ballet Brut

Upon arriving, I was greeted with a sign that read the Roundhouse community centre was closed for construction that day. PANIC! Oh man, I’ve done it again. Somehow I’ve made a mistake and am at the wrong venue. I’ll never get to the right place in time for the show! Oh wait.... there’s the entrance over there by that crowd of people. Disaster averted. As I enter the performance space, crossing the front of the room I felt like I was in the spotlight. The stage lights were already on, as well as the house lights. Little did I know that it would stay this way for the entire performance. The audience was intimate and a little too involved with the performance (we will get to that part later). The show starts with a few performers staring up at the audience and looking intrigued. This caught my attention. Eight minutes more of this and I was beginning to get concerned that this would be the entire show. Although the performance had a slow start, this added to the build up of the show as a whole. I loved this show. Everyday gestures and human movements are synchronized into a major theatre production. It was hilarious. The highlight of the show was where they took out breath spray and began to do ungraceful ballet moves to attempt to catch it in their mouths. At one point, the performers took to the audience in repeating a variation of handshakes, hugs, and kisses on random spectators. My boyfriend was one of these lucky people. He sat there awkwardly as the woman with no shirt that stood over him made him a part of the performance. It was hilarious. For me, the most ironic point of the performance was when a curtain drew up and the audience sees that across the room is the place where the audience would traditionally be sitting: the stadium. Instead, we are sitting on make shift bleachers with fold out chairs. The show ends with dozens of eccentric performers dancing in the stadium seating across from the audience. The show closed with a roar of applause and a standing ovation. A good time was had by all.