The Greatest of Ease: Aerial Festival 2010

    The Second Baltimore Aerial Festival, took place July 24-26 in the alley behind Load of Fun (if you haven't been there, check it out; it is a piece of art in itself). It was a well-rounded, well-transitioned evening of fun. More dance concert than theatrical performance, the numbers ran the gamut from aerialist in training to professionals with incredible control, from solemn presentations to comedy, and from political statement to pure beauty.
    The festival was hosted by In-Flight Theater which is largely the child of aerialist and theatrical performer Mara Neimanis, its artistic director, occasionally joined by Tim Scofield, sculptor and aerialist. It is unclear whether anyone else is permanently involved with In-Flight Theater. It is clear that Neimanis knows what she is doing. Content to play the doofus in the shows transitions and final piece, she also performed a very interesting solo to close the first act and clearly had a hand in the show's entire design. The transitions between pieces were very entertaining; Neimanis and Scofield played safety inspectors, the doofus and the impatient boss, respectively. Forgive me for not knowing many of the titles of the pieces as I describe them; the doofus character tended to yell them out in a very distinctive, often somewhat unintelligible voice.
    Some of the pieces were more traditional aerial performance work (presentational style, recognizable tricks), though no less thrilling. In particular, Arachne Aerial Arts' Take My Hand (duet on trapeze) and Split (duet on silks) performed by Gwynne Flanagan and Kate Winston were well choreographed and beautifully executed. Simple themes, use of opposition and unison, impressive movement, obvious control from start to finish: quality stuff. Eric Gorsuch's solo on straps was definitely for show: dramatic and well executed, not to mention all the more impressive because you know those straps had to be giving him serious rope burn.
    Other just-for-fun pieces included a performance by Kisten Faber and Jessica Buccaro (duet on trapeze), one by Lucy Morris (solo on trapeze), and one by Echo (solo on silks). The duet had a laid back attitude and quirky costumes. The solo by Echo clearly had some technical difficulties, which unfortunately broke the timing with the music. I say unfortunately especially because the piece was designed to be a tango with the silks -- a great idea in theory. Even so, the performer managed to use her struggles to her advantage, milking the violent, mysterious, sexy aspects of tango. Not the best technically, but performed with conviction.
    Speaking of well performed, the solos from Mara Neimanis and Meagan Berg fully integrated the aerial aspect into the whole concept of the piece. Creating a whole, comprehensive performance.
    Neimanis played a character trapped in her house by her own lack of motivation. Neimanis' character moved on a hanging sculpture, perhaps an abstraction of a bed/window/house, while she talked aloud, as much to herself as to the imaginary person who was meant to receive her letter.  Meagan Berg performed in Social Networking, a hilariously awkward encounter with (yet another) hanging shape and a lot of embarrassment. She narrated as if texting someone on her phone, which she carried throughout the piece (except for the moment she dropped it), along with her purse and while wearing heels. As a performer, Berg is so in command of her props and body that they can convince the audience she is out of control.
    Updraft, A Conspiracy of Movement, also presented a commentary on current issues, specifically work in prisons. The soundscape was a mix of music and spoken clips of interviews, and the movement was both relevant to the controversial nature of the subject and the shape of their hanging sculpture -- a hoop partially within and above a cube. The two women used the device to create points of connection as well as barriers between them. In all three of these more experimental pieces, the unconventional nature of the apparatus added to the unconventional shape of their dance.
    The most comedic pieces were two: one performed by Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey (duet on trapeze), and the final piece, in which our safety inspectors at last had their opportunity to steal the show.
    Trixie and the Monkey made an extravagant comedy of yoga and sex, complete with incense, outrageous costumes, exaggerated expressions (and sounds), visual sex jokes and, of course, impressive aerial moves.
    Neimanis and Scofield, on Scofield’s aerial apparatus, made a show of “testing the tower.” It soon became clear that this act was the piece, as the two inspectors began to have more and more fun countering each other’s weight on a kind of human pulley system. There was no magic about this aerial art. It was actually refreshing to see the device assembled as a part of the show: the tower was already secured, but atop it a kind of balance had to be strung with rope, and an extra counter weight was added to one side. Neimanis and Scofield were each harnessed to the rope, opposite each other at all times because the balance also rotated atop the tower. His feigned impatience, her method of fixing everything by blowing on it, and their obvious enjoyment of exploring man-made flight all made this piece a joy to watch. I was still somewhat disappointed that there actually was no piece to follow their so-called tests. I don’t mean to say that this piece was somehow unsatisfying, but I do mean to say to In-Flight Theater: keep it up!