Surcas

Depending on who you talk to you'll hear that Surcas is the Sydney University Recreational Clowing Around Society or the Sydney University Circus Arts Society. Anyway, it's their circus society. And they teamed up with Circusoc, the UNSW circus society to put on R & J, a circus version of Romeo and Juliet, which I went to see last Friday.

I really enjoyed the show. As with ballet or opera, the story was condensed and told mostly through action. There was almost no speaking during the show, except for a recorded voice reading some of the original Romeo and Juliet during transitions. But, as a familiar story (at least to me), it worked well. I could clearly identify the main characters. And interestingly enough Romeo and Juliet were a lesbian couple, adding a new dynamic to the show.

I've always admired displays of skill and coordination, so it was pretty easy to please me during the show. That said, the performers made obvious mistakes a few times. I was impressed however with how smoothly they incorporated the mistakes into the show and kept on going. It never really halted the show. Early on in the show Juliet, played by this woman Jess whom I've met briefly before, did a hula-hoop routine incorporating ballet and doing a fair bit of it en point. That was mind blowing. Later on she had a ciroc dance routine with a fair number of aerial maneuvers that was also fun to watch. There was a lot of partnered juggling. None of the jugglers had crazy solo's with large numbers of balls, but they did a good job coordinating between multiple jugglers and then wrapped up with two pairs of jugglers on different levels passing a fair distance across the stage it looked pretty hot; lots of clubs flying around.

All in all, a fun show, and I enjoyed it more than I expected. With a bit more practice it could become a really stunning show. Sadly with only 3 performances that won't happen this time. But there's always next time. Quite a few of my house mates have been active in the circus society at one point or another so maybe I'll even learn how to do some of this stuff. I'd love to learn some of the stick work, or maybe poi. Just need to not light myself on fire.

It's completely unrelated to this show. But later I came back and looked up some hula-hoop videos on the net, so I'll leave you with a link to this impressive video: http://www.spike.com/video/sexy-hula-hoop-girl/3314628?cmpnid=790&pt=sr&refsite=7118