Tright here’s one thing particular about Growth. In March 2022, younger artists from the Cirk La Putyka ensemble in Prague and the Kyiv Municipal Academy of Circus and Selection Arts first met one another after the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine. Growth transforms this life-altering scenario into an effervescent show of acrobatic collaboration that by no means loses sight of a shared humanity.
The present opens by depicting day-to-day life for these Gen Z artists in Prague. Carrying large clear heads, they compulsively swipe left and proper underneath a pale gray gentle. Dizzying aerial methods talk the incessant nature of rolling hashtags and fixed selfies. These effectively completed, if not overly authentic sketches of an earthly, considerably unthinking life, come to a standstill when the Ukrainian artists arrive huddled in giant overcoats. There’s a painful maturity to how all of the younger performers maintain the bodily and emotional area between them, recognising the nonetheless current and blunt brutality of conflict.
From right here, a dance of curiosity unfolds because the artists share their personalities, histories, and love of circus. The choreography is sensitively and adroitly completed. Completely different circus acts spiral off and encourage one another: Cyr wheel meets hoops, acrobats ricochet off one another with shared momentum.
It’s all lit underneath a cool, neon gaze, whereas dwell digital music manipulation provides a cohesive body to the persevering with evolution of spectacular methods, spoken testimony and conventional tune and imagery.
It’s not the tightest present – it looses its footing in direction of the tip and doesn’t evolve from particular person interactions into a bigger ensemble piece. However it's inspiring in its youthful power, expertise, and honesty.
At Underbelly, Edinburgh, till 29 August.
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