Looking
to experience something scary and exciting to boost your Halloween spirit?
Check out “Slumber”, the circus and dance show at the House of Yes in Brooklyn.
Don’t dress up too fancy if you are planning on sitting next to the stage, some
blood, which flows abundantly during the performance, might spill on you. Watch
how the beautiful and deadly nightmare of a young girl becomes a reality and
her friend starts to slit open the throats, stomachs and wrists of her
girlfriends one by one.
photo by John Dolan
The
cast of incredibly talented performers challenges the limits of human physical
abilities, featuring a contortionist, Olga
Karmansky, silks and trapeze performers,
Anya Sapozhnikova and Melissa Aguerre, aerialist Joren Dawson,
and dancers Bokyung Park and Lisa Sainvil. Lee Hubilla narrates in between killing people
and taking selfies. Set to the electro-pop soundtrack from artists such as Halsey,
the Chainsmokers and Terror Jr, the show is lit like a party at a nightclub
with strobes and neon spotlights.
Choreography, by husband-and-wife team Keone and Mari Madrid, smartly uses the strengths
of the performers to narrate through dance and circus numbers. The show opens
with a captivating and sexy dream sequence in which the cast, all dressed in
white underwear, start rolling around in a single bed in the middle of the
stage and then extend the action to the podium in the center aisle. Sapozhnikova
and Aguerre perform a routine on the silks hung above the crowed. The use of welding
art on the wall behind the bar, as well as silks and aerial straps above the
seated audience, smartly expands the performing space and creates a sense of
doubled danger and excitement – not only for the performer (like it is in
traditional circus) but also for you.
The Chinese
pole routine performed by Joren Dawson seduces, not only the members of the
female squad, but the audience as well, with its playful strength. This flirting
soon exceeds the limit of Lee Hubilla’s comfort
and balances on a razor’s edge of fun and assault. The smart and risky
direction of Lyndsay Magid and Josh Aviner keeps you intrigued for a while but then Lee
Hubilla takes the stage and this is where things begin to fall apart. As cute
and charismatic as she is, she becomes redundant and repeats herself a lot. All
of a sudden you find yourself in the middle of a not-so-funny standup comedy
act and your cheeks are in pain from polite smiling.
Although unbalanced due to
excessive use of dialogue with the audience, “Slumber” is still worth catching while it is running in the House
of Yes. The solo number of Olga Karmansky, where her recently killed body is
testing out its limbs and joints, or the “cocaine trip” of the trapeze duo Anya
Sapozhnikova and Melissa Aguerre, is worth the trip.
“Slumber” is produced by Hideaway and runs
through November 6th in the House of Yes at 2 Wyckoff Avenue,
Brooklyn. Attendees must be 21 years of age or older. For more information and
tickets visit http://hideawaycircus.com/slumber/.
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