At The Last Gasp

On the eve of the world premiere of their debut independent show ‘At The Last Gasp’ for this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival, National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) students Angelique Ross, Dylan Rodriguez and Luke Hubbard found time between gravity-defying rehearsals to speak with Geoffrey Williams.

When I was a young boy, circus was an entirely different proposition from what it is today. Sometimes, I have to admit, the nostalgia for the unforgettable sensory experience it was still collides with the work of the tireless activists around the world, who have ensured that what we didn’t recognise at the time as being carefully choreographed acts of animal abuse have been (mostly) brought to an end.

Thanks largely to the innovative, ground-breaking (and defying) work of the high-profile Cirque du Soleil, Circus has successfully re-imagined its epic and spectacular sensibilities (without the poor tortured lions or the dancing elephants and horses). Productions like the brilliant Slava’s Snowshow have also contributed to the re-imaginging of Circus as an artform. By taking the art of Clown to extraordinary levels of theatricality, Slava’s Snowshow (like Cirque de Soleil) mastered the performance of mythological origin stories that suited their performance aesthetics perfectly.

Circus has, essentially, evolved to become more than the equal sum of its parts, and its role in our cultural landscape is increasingly about the exploration of a limitless physical vocabulary explored and defined through movement and dance.

Created and performed by second year NICA students Angelique Ross, Dylan Rodriguez and Luke Hubbard, At the Last Gasp is a heady mix of circus and physical theatre that explores our varied responses to the presence of death through a series of vignettes.

“The three of us all have a pretty dark sense of humor and an interest in controversial subjects, which has had quite an influence in our show,” says Dylan, who has had substantial exposure to a wide range of sports and disciplines since he was a young boy. Gymnastics, trampolining, archery and taekwondo (he is a 1st Dan Black belt of Taekwondo and registered with the World Taekwondo Federation) and ballet have all played a role in his creative and disciplined presence. At NICA, Dylan is specialising in dance trapeze and hand balancing.

Angelique grew up performing and teaching in many small community circuses from Broome to Margaret River. She also recalls rigging trapezes and tight ropes from trees all along the West Coast of Australia! Since the days of juggling at the school bus stop, Angelique has never strayed very far from her passion for the arts, studying visual art and music while somehow finding time to play in various bands, including the WA Youth Symphonic Band.

Luke has been the Australian Champion in the sport of tumbling and diving nine times. He has represented Australia three times, winning the Indo Pacific Games in South Africa and coming 8th in the World Age Game in the Netherlands. Having grown up in Echuca, Luke decided he wanted to use his skills as an elite athlete and pursue his love of acting, so he moved to Melbourne to study a Bachelor of Circus Degree at NICA where he specialises in teeterboard, handstands and hoop diving.

Their shared experience at NICA so far has definitely turned into something none of them anticipated. “For one thing, the direction our lives were taking have changed completely!” says Dylan, who was determined to become a stunt man. “My favorite thing about circus is putting things together. Having ideas, heaps of ideas, narrowing them down, building on them and researching them – then getting up, and putting them into practice. We spend a lot of time playing with what’s possible, throwing each other around bouncing off one another to see what works.”

So what has it been like for this multi-talented trio creating their first independent production for Melbourne Fringe?

“It’s been tough and more than a little bit crazy. We just decided, out of the blue, that we would put a show together and we registered for fringe at the last minute. We've learnt so much so far and can't wait to keep learning,” says Dylan. “I had the idea that I wanted to walk on bottles,” and after a certain amount of club-based research that involved digging around in bins to create his collection of bottles “I did a test – which was basically me in a big pair of boots putting my weight and as much as I could hold on this bottle. Nothing happened – safe to walk on!”

What inspired you to study circus?

“When growing up a circus would come to my hometown once a year, do workshops and put on shows,” recalls Angelique. “One of the performers, Matt Yates, took a small group of us under his wing and started training us. For me this consisted of home made stilts, juggling at the bus stop, tumbling in a shed where we'd brush our fingers against the roof when jumping. The “if it's not dodgy, we didn't do it” motto was developed early on, along with a lot of tight-knit friendships. For me, circus has always been about the community and closeness. You put a whole bunch of people together in a room who love what they do and have thrown convention aside, and fun and interesting things tend to happen.”

What are the most challenging aspects of your chosen artform?

“Keeping my body in a workable condition, and strengthening and avoiding or recovering from injuries,” says Dylan, “and learning how to perform the skills in an interesting and meaningful way.”

Who inspires you?

“So many performers!” says Angelique. “I spent a lot of my childhood looking forward to the Circus to come to my town in Western Australia where a huge variety of performers would do their thing. Grant Goldie has inspired (as well as taught me) a lot of the juggling I know, and The Tumble Circus's humor has stuck with me. More recently we've been interested in Three is a Crowd, CIRCA and Les 7 doigts de la Main (who are based in Montreal). We're also constantly surrounded by heap of great performers that pass through NICA.”

How the world of circus different for female performers, Angelique?

“In traditional circus there are so many stereotypes – from tricks on apparatuses to the apparatus itself. For instance flying trapeze, where the man would catch the pretty girl flying across to him. I quite enjoy breaking, or watching a performer break, these stereotypes as much as possible. I base Dylan on the trapeze as much as he holds me, keeping our strength, flexibility and overall roles quite equal.”

Viva La Equality!

At The Last Gasp. Gasworks Arts Park, Cnr Graham St and Pickles St, Albert Park, Melbourne. Wed 25 – Fri 27 Sept at 6.45pm, Sat 28 Sept at 1.15pm and 6.45pm. (Duration 45 mins). Bookings http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/at-the-last-gasp/

Images: Angelique Ross, Luke Hubbard (in the air) and Dylan Rodriguez in rehearsal for At The Last Gasp.