Last night's (July 27, 2014; New York City) performance of Fuerza Bruta: Wayra was over the top fantastic. It was in a small theatre at Union Square. It lasted 1.5 hours, and you were standing the whole time - there were no seats. It was an entertaining performance of loud, rave like music, with high energy, fast paced movement by the performers, accompanied by fantastic lighting and theatrical fog. It felt like art - abstract expressionism. The music resonated in my heart - literally vibrating in my chest cavity. The performance spaces moved at times into the audience space, and there was a crew to move the audience around out of the way - no problems with this. The title translates to "brute force" and it was - power of the throbbing music, intensity of the multi-coloured lighting, high speed wind machines, energy of the performers. It was sensory overload - in a good way. Like what I would imagine feeling if in a vortex.
At times members of the audience were invited to take part. At the end of one overhead scene the performers descended to the audience floor and selected a consenting person to be secured into them, and then hoisted up above the audience to the plastic sheet that separated the space overhead the audience from the ceiling and that upper area where the performers were performing.
The NY Times had described this performance some months ago and I was intrigued by it and got the tickets. I was hooked. A few weeks ago NYT published their review and basically said this was not theatre and gave it a poor review. But clearly not the reviewers cup of tea. I was not disappointed to enjoy it by letting my feelings go, not necessarily look for meaning, and just enjoy what washed over my senses. The crowd was mostly 20s, but a few from each age group.
At one point a transparent bubble inflated covering the entire audience, and the performers moved on the top of this surface.
In another scene, in the middle of the audience (we were moved back out of the way) there was a foil coloured, two sided, circular surface which was perpendicular to the ground. It had handles on it that the performers could climb around as it was spun three dimensionally. There was a performer on each side of the surface. They were each trying to desperately connect with the other - calling out - but all to no avail as they were in separate worlds.
In another scene there is a transparent plastic sheet unfurled over the heads of the audience, and then supported by air pressure, and the performers move around above you by walking on this sheet. At the very end there is dancing in the audience, and those in the centre have the rain machine turned on them. There were actually a lot of people who enjoyed the feeling of getting soaked as they let go of their feelings to the beat of the feral music.
A number of scenes had a treadmill moved into the middle of the audience, mostly with one character running on it. No matter what he had to deal with - being shot, having to run through a wall, etc he kept moving on. A fitting allegory for life (minus the shooting part)!
I really enjoyed the extended scene when they had a pool about 25 feet above the entire audience space, clear bottom and filled it with some water. The performers moved around it like water nymphs. It felt very ethereal. The initial positions looked embryonic. The performer appeared to be looking down, as if through a portal, at our mortal life below. See the photos below - keep in mind that this is all in a temporary pool suspended a short ways above the audience's heads.
One scene on the treadmill had the guy blasting through a wall of white boxes each containing styrofoam and small paper pieces. As he passed through the wall, the boxes exploded and the wind machines blew bits of styrofoam and paper all over the crowd. the music continued. the platform with the treadmill eased away and the performance continued at one end of the audience space. The performers were hitting each other over their heads with squares, which shattered spraying the same styrofoam and small paper pieces, to be blown by the wind. Then they came into the crowd and were dancing with the audience, which had mostly become a pulsing throng. One performer came near and she danced with me. The beat intensified; our dancing matched the tempo. We were jumping as if doing some primal, tribal ritual. She motioned me to take off my glasses. Then she smashed one of the white squares over my heard. There was styrofoam and small pieces of paper everywhere. I opened my arms inviting her to hug. She sprang, with the intensity of going to jump through me, up into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist. It was like embracing a sphere of throbing energy. And then with the flow of the music she glided through the crowd and back onto the stage as quickly as she had appeared. I want to live this way all the time - energized, sensory feelings exploding! Alas we live in a collection of moments which are mostly planned - but should remember to take advantage of serendipity - whatever opportunities come our way, however fleeting, as they are of the moment, not to be repeated, but often pleasurable - that of which great memories are made.
At most times it felt dream like - a suspension of reality, but with a stream of consciousness - and also an allegory of life. A full-on, multi-sensory, completely immersive experience. It truly was a feast for the senses - sight, sound, touch. I highly recommend seeing this if you ever get the opportunity.
