Taking the air
Blend aerial acrobats, a rocking band, a singing songwriter and a spinning DJ and it's Walking On Air. Sebastian Lee shoots the trapeze breeze with director Sha McGovern
Aerialize make it look trapezy
Walking On Air is a strange, hybrid creature. Making the most of the versatility of Sydney Opera House's Studio, it's a casual night at your favourite bar with a live set by Bridezilla (be excited), an equally live set by singer Liz Martin (stay excited), and a set by DJ Gemma (no point not staying excited now, is there?). Oh yeah - and there are about 14 disturtbingly limber aerial artists swinging from the roof in all sorts of crazy ways throughout the evening.
The creator and director of Walking On Air is Sha McGovern, creative director and co-founder of Sydney aerial theatre group Aerialize; and she is keen to point out that this is no standard performer/audience environment.
"The nice thing about The Studio is that it's an intimate environment. It's not seated so people will be able to move about and go to the bar. There will be cushions there so you can grab a cushion and sit down for a bit.
There will be tables and chairs, but not many. It's a very fluid night where people can dance, sit back and watch what's going on or chat with their friends. We're really making it more of a nightclub experience."
Like a nightclub, there are no rows of seats, just an open room. And like a nightclub there's music to listen to and music to dance to. But unlike your average nightclub there's the added bonus of a parade of taut bodies who have dreamed up amazing things to do while swinging through the air. Expect to see a concert pianist playing a keyboard on a trapeze while upside down; a human chandelier; a man on the moon incorporating rock-climbing apparatus; a performer using what is possibly the most natural acrobatic piece of equipment ever invented - the hammock (who hasn't flapped their way to the ground from one of those babies?). There is much more, all - even the hammock routine - performed with the kind of skill and grace that make you wonder how the hell they do it.
All of the aerial performers are affiliated with Aerialize, a group who has not only performed at events and festivals such as The Adelaide Fringe Festival, Great Escape, Big Day out and many more both here and overseas, but also does a lot of corporate work and teaches aspiring air freaks. Most of them have been teaching and performing for many years, and although their skills may be diverse, they work well together and have much respect for each other's work.
For Sha herself, aerial gymnastics seems to be in her blood. At school level she competed in state gymnastic championships and has since performed all over the world in various aerial disciplines. According to her bio, she even spends her spare time "swinging through the air, working with ropes and climbing trees." As someone who suffers such acute acrophobia that climbing into a hammock invariably involves falling straight back out, I want to know what is wrong with her; what is wrong with using your spare time to sit down in a chair and read a good book?
"Nothing," the aerial obsessive laughs. "I'm reading Haruki Murakami at the moment. So I definitely do enjoy a good book at the end of the day... or at 2am when I can't get to sleep."
No getting up at 2am to swing from the roof to cure insomnia?
"No... although that has been done."
What hasn't been done is a full rehearsal in the actual performance space. It seems like a tight room to be working with so many aerial performers. McGovern has the rigging mapped out and does admit that it that it's a little squeezy but not as much as we might think. The most performers doing their thing at the same time is around six. But what of the mood of the night, given that it opens with Bridezilla's warm and wonderful folk/ rock broodiness?
"It is true - with the nature of Bridezilla and their moody kind of tracks the evening does start in a nighttime realm, then it moves into a lighter realm with Liz Martin and then goes a bit futuristic and dancey with the music of DJ Gemma. So we have responded to the music we're working with, for sure."
Aerialize, Bridezilla, Liz Martin and DJ Gemma come together at Walking On Air at The Studio, Sydney Opera House from Thu 15 to Sun 17 May.