Backbone is a piece of devised circus that examines strength . Honestly , ironically and personally .
When asked to direct Gravity and Other Myths ’ new show I could hardly contain my excitement . This company of self-made success is young , raw , unpretentious and hungry for the next challenge . To create strong and deliberate meaning .
Acrobats have a kind of reverse career trajectory as artists . Unlike a musician or painter for instance , an acrobat ’ s technical peak is often when their conceptual skill is just forming . Somewhere in the middle of this career is a sweet spot . Where body and mind are strong and willing .
It is from this sweet spot that we began to devise Backbone . A show that is , at its core , a provocation to itself and the company . Are we strong enough to carry it ?
The privilege of being commissioned for a major festival is immense . It has allowed us the time and space to deeply question ourselves and our form in a time when a great deal of circus is becoming homogenous . This same privilege means that as we rehearsed ( and as I wrote this ) our show was only partially written , and only on opening night did we truly know what we had given birth to .
We hope it will be show that anyone from any place at any age can access . An unpretentious , physically virtuosic , meaningful piece of circus .
Opposite is a provocation I gave the cast and our ultimate point of departure . I hope you get something out of Backbone .
DARCY GRANT Director
Backbone examines the various perceptions of what strength is , where it comes from and how it is measured . It is set in the here and now . We won ’ t be transporting our audience to Verona . We are on a stage . In a theatre . In front of an audience . Testing and measuring what we are made of and what we mean . What are the strengths and weaknesses you possess ? Backbones and spines have a lot in common with groups of people . The can be strong and aligned . Crooked and weak . Damaged and dysfunctional . Articulate and dextrous when each joint is working together . Inside the backbone is the spinal cord . The line that connects thought to action and therefore people to each other . We all measure ourselves against someone or something . The many pages book is bound by a spine . We are interested in the posture of humanity . This show is a provocation to itself and to the performers inside it . What matters to you and are you strong enough to carry it ?