360 ALLSTARS

360 ALLSTARS kick it into high octane from the first moment and it doesn't stop spinning. Hailed as an urban circus, this experience is a fusion of art, music and things that spin including people, bikes, hoops, balls and lyrics. 

As the 360 ALLSTARS begin, a darkened podium stage left lights up and producer/creator Gene Peterson gets the party started with a crankin beatbox under a spotlight. He psyches up an audience of all ages who don’t seem to know what to expect. Before they can work it out, the focus shifts to a podium stage right and we meet Mistress of Ceremonies extraordinaire Mirrah and she is wild! She beatboxes, she raps, she has a dynamite voice, and she quickly assesses and addresses the audience letting them know, “the more you give the more we give”. It’s a 2 way street with everyone happy to play a part! Creativity hits the street and the entertainment spins with thrills and spills keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. 

There is plenty of audience interaction via Peterson and MC Mirrah as well as the rest of the cast who not only do the daredevil stunts but engage with us and are rewarded with plenty of crowd participation as the tricks and skills unfold onstage, all the while accompanied with music and sound and some serious drum beats. 

The 360 ALLSTARS cast have some cred and are all at the top of their fields with World Champion and World Record holding artists and athletes front and centre. Basketball star Bavo Delbeke, break dancers Bboy Leerok and Bboy Sette along with BMX champ Heru Anwari all work together as an ensemble, feeding off each other, dropping in and out or teaming up with each other showcasing not only their own skills but the diversity amongst them.

360 ALLSTARS ticks all the boxes and tickles all the senses. It’s like the Easter Show (for Sydney folk) you know late at night when the crowd draws to the big ring and the daredevils start the stunts? Only this is a front row seat in a delightful theatre west of Sydney. We are even treated to a bird’s eye view drum solo with Peterson perching a camera on his head projecting the solo onto a giant screen.

Runtime is an hour and honestly, I don’t know where the hour went. The kiddos in the audience held captivated for an hour seemed stunned it was all done, which is an impressive feat. There are no fancy sets and props or smoke and mirrors, just tools of the trade, a bike, hoop, vocals, drums and about 5 basketballs, it is pure entertainment. Sadly, some add on workshops and stunts had to be cancelled due to illness but if the audience hadn’t been told I doubt they would have noticed. The show went on without a visible hitch.

This is a show that would fuel youngsters and into the tween market and beyond. Riverside has again played host to non-stop entertainment and I’m sure they get many filled houses before the roll out the door.  

Nicole Smith 

Photographer: Matt Loncar.