words yvonne teh

Extreme movements are the norm for the gymnasts of a new dance show

It’s all relative. Take, as an example, the competitive sport known as aerobic gymnastics (aka sports aerobics). Compared to other forms of gymnastics, notably the Olympic events known as artistic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics, the aerobic variety – which prioritizes aerobic fitness, physical strength and flexibility – may place less of an emphasis on the artistic and aesthetic. But judged on its own merits, it’s artistic enough that Italian impresario Antonio Gnecchi Ruscone chose it for an innovative physical dance theatre presentation designed to leave viewers breathless.

AEROS is the opening programme of this year’s International Arts Carnival presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). Of his invention, Ruscone tells bc, “I’ve been working for almost two decades in the world of movement, from the classical dance repertory to the avant-garde and modern dance, and it was always in the back of my mind that certain sports do have an incredible vocabulary that can be showed on stage.” And while artistic and rhythmic gymnastics may be better known, Ruscone considers aerobic gymnastics a discipline that, melding the other two, gives more vocabulary to the performing arts spectacle with which he has toured internationally for some 10 years and whose name means air and lightness.

The Italian agent for American dancer-choreographers Daniel Ezralow, David Parsons and Moses Pendleton, Ruscone came up with the idea a little more than a decade ago of combining the creative talents of his three clients with the physical prowess of top-class aerobic gymnasts from Romania, a country many people the world over have come to associate with gymnastic genius - especially after Nadia Comaneci gathered seven perfect 10.0 scores and five gold medals at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. He confirms that a major factor behind his deciding to work with the Romanian Gymnastics Federation on the world’s first performing arts project for a national gymnastics team was that it “is known worldwide how well they are trained and how determined they are”.

He needed and gained the Federation’s trust as, for them as for him, it was a brand new adventure which has seen 16 to 18 gymnasts – who Ruscone describes as “all the young winners of the Romanian Federation” – making up AEROS’s cast at any one time. (For the record, Ruscone states that the current stars of AEROS have more than 20 medals in [the] European and World Championships in Aerobic Gymnastics among them; and the best of them – who he names as Brinzea Mircea, Zamfir Mircea and Mavrodineanu Tudorel – have been crowned European and World Champions four times already.)

Work on AEROS began back in 1997, culminating in a world premiere in Milan, Italy. For its American debut, however, Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, creators of the hit show STOMP, came on board to help rework the production. It was a precursor of things to come since, in Ruscone’s words, “AEROS has changed many times through [the] years. The production has always been [a] work in progress.”

And it always will be, not just to keep the work fresh but because the movements are so extreme (one reviewer enthused over the show’s “gymnastic pyrotechnics”), the cast must always be young, physically flexible and fit enough (ie between 19 and 26 years old) to perform them. So after 10 years not a single member of the original cast remains.

Its beauty not withstanding, Ruscone notes gymnastics, though not in a life or death sense, is a very dangerous sport. But because gymnasts – be it in serious competition or in a show like AEROS – “are always stretching their bodies to the limits” and performing feats that defy gravity, there’s the risk of major injuries, particularly if a performer has not properly trained or rehearsed.

And training is something the AEROS gymnasts do a lot of since they have not retired from competitive gymnastics and, in fact, remain active in world competitions. While this might surprise some people (especially those who may have thought AEROS is the gymnastic equivalent of the Stars of Ice figure skating show whose stars have retired from competition), what will probably amaze them even more is to learn from Ruscone that “We have an agreement with the Romanian Federation [that] the gymnasts who are still competing cannot be used when they need to train for competitions. Therefore, when they do have a competition, we are not able to tour the company!”

Which makes it all the more understandable why the much respected Romanian Gymnastics Federation has agreed to be a part of AEROS. It is a win-win situation. As Ruscone says, “Definitely the athletes do benefit from performing in AEROS because performing every night allows [the] gymnasts to gain confidence and strength to stay in front of audience and judges.”

AEROS will be performed by members of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation from July 11 to 13 at the HK Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre. The evening performances on July 11 and 12 begin at 7:30pm while showtime for the July 12 and 13 matinees is at 3pm. Tickets are $320 to $120 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.