Gandini Juggling Project, Don’t Break My Balls and Quartet

Review in Issue 15-2 | Summer 2003

The Gandini Juggling Project, a fluid collection of performers led by Sean Gandini and Kati Ylä-Hokkala, have been blending juggling and dance for around a decade. They have developed an intimate and idiosyncratic approach to performance that charms and engages their audience, often reflecting the character of their collaborators.

Don't Break My Balls is a shift from the Project's previous work, utilising director JP Zaccarini's assistance to inject a narrative not yet seen in their work. We sympathise with the universal tensions and joys that Gandini and Ylä-Hokkala present as they explore their own working and personal relationship from first meeting through arguments to reconciliation The red and white balls become an extension of the performers' own bodies, filled with character. This is a delicate and sensual piece sharply punctuated by the obsessions and cravings of a modem romance and the musical sawing of Guy Bellingham.

The second piece, Quartet, is closer to the usual style of the Project, a joyful expression of the complex patterns four performers can weave with balls, clubs and rings. The familiar Gandini components are present: tight synchronicity with a variety of music, humour, colour and a selection of sounds created by the performers and the objects.

The thing that is consistent about the Project is the relaxed and delicate relationship they build with the audience. When this is juxtaposed with the complexity and imagination of the juggling it is truly beguiling. The aplomb and humour with which the patterns, movement and drops are carried off is juggling at its best.

Artforms
Presenting Artists
Presenting Festival
Presenting Venue
Date Seen
  1. Apr 2003

This article in the magazine

Issue 15-2
p. 26