The safety of virture adventure

La Fete continued its string of interdisciplinary productions that mix acrobatics and architectonics, dance and dialogue, and illustration and instruments in Compagnie Adrien M / Claire B’s “Cinematique” last Friday and Saturday.
The audience at Chulalongkorn University’s Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts witnessed the harmonious marriage of dancing, juggling and digital arts – of physical and virtual reality – in a dream-like spectacle.
Demonstrating why the company won the newcomer prize at the 2004 Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe (young circus talent), the show bore a strong element of nouveau cirque. Seemingly unrelated scenes were threaded together into a flowing sequence through the playful interaction and engaging relationship of the two performers.
On a stage empty save for a large black box, Adrien Mondot entered juggling three balls, gradually descending to a crouch. All of a sudden he was trapped – a mysterious hand drew a circle around him.
It was then that the audience realised the box housed a projector and behind it sat Satchie Noro – armed with a black pen. She covered the entire ground with jagged lines.
The pair switched positions. It was Noro’s turn to go through the obstacles that Mondot created. Filling the floor with a depiction of water and tilting the projection box back and forth to summon waves, Mondot placed, one by one, white pebbles that he constantly moved for his partner to step on, leap from and crawl between.
They offered viewers an “invitation to travel, to dream” and set sail aboard an overturned table on a journey from the natural environment into the fantastical world of fast-changing digital landscapes. They ran along computer grids, slid around swelling ridges, trekked through rough terrain, hurtled over vortexes, and dodged craters as the floor disintegrated into three dimensions.
They knocked down an illusory wall of words with a ball, attracted broken letters with flashlights like buzzing insects, and interacted with luminous shooting stars under unreal skies.
The show’s attempt to push the boundaries of gravity and space with the use of state-of-the-art technology was admirable – but the excitement only lasted so long. Unlike the tense “Ieto” three weeks ago – in which the performer’s interactions with wooden structures created the possibility of actual danger – there were no genuine risks in this production.
This is not to say, of course, that productions only work when there’s a chance that the performers might injure themselves, but “Cinematique” is billed as a thrilling odyssey through impediment. Watching the duo play with digital fire, as impressive as it is, can only be thrilling up to a point.
Also, amid the convoluted projections, attention was diverted from their bodies and gestures, which should be the focus of any live performance. And Noro’s dancing, despite her exquisite classically trained body and poise, wasn’t very inspiring, in choreography or execution.
Fortunately the show picked up again at the end when Mondot took juggling to a whole new level during his sensational act with a crystal ball. With great confidence and precision, he didn’t just manipulate the ball, but also gracefully danced with it across the stage and on the floor, his body soon intertwined with Noro’s. He made it even seem as if the ball was dancing with him.
In his hands, the inanimate object came alive, and so did the audience’s enthusiasm.

FINAL ACT
La Fete’s performing arts series closes with tomorrow and Saturday’s “danced conference”, “My Own History of Dance” by Compagnie Beau Geste at the Patravadi Theatre. The show time is 8pm.
Seats are Bt400 and Bt600 (Bt100 for students) at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.
Find out more at www.CieBeauGeste.|com and the “La F