What happens while aerial artists learn to fly? The premier collaboration between UBC alumni Meredith Hambrock and Esther de Monteflores at the Vancouver Fringe Festival explores the learning we all experience through the medium of circus.
Filled with aerial stunts and slack rope walking, Hambrock and de Monteflores have created an engaging show, backed to a moving soundtrack composed by Vancouver’s Aaron Read. Narration by five very distinct narrators is layered on top of the music.
“We have, in the childhood section … a motherly figure reading a story, [and] in the adolescent the narrator’s a teenage boy," said Hambrock.
De Monteflores is excited about how honest CLIMB is. She believes that in traditional circus an aerialist is often presented as an other-worldly being, an angelic figure, whereas CLIMB will tap into her reality; circus artists will experience failure almost constantly. Just like life, an aerial artist’s beautiful movements are the products of a ridiculous amount of training, making mistakes, that inevitably lead to positive growth.
In Hambrock’s experience, classical narration can be an oppressive force. The person on stage has to listen in response so she decided to shift their roles throughout.
“You can see Esther responds to the narrator sometimes, [and] sometimes she ignores the narrator, she has a changing relationship with this authority throughout … which rings true for each age group and experience.”
CLIMB is a shining example of how modern day circus has transformed from solely about wow factor to speaking about the human experience.
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