Adelaide Fringe

Interview: Juggling Is ‘Smashed’ By Sean Gandini

For most of us, performing intricately choreographed acrobatics for live audiences is well outside our comfort zone. For Sean Gandini, professional juggler and theatre entrepreneur, that is just another day at the office.

0cf9c4_fb171dc7e27b46078721b454dbfa3ab3.jpg_srz_630_420_75_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srzFor most of us, performing intricately choreographed acrobatics for live audiences is well outside our comfort zone. For Sean Gandini, professional juggler and theatre entrepreneur, that is just another day at the office. Gandini will be bringing his internationally acclaimed show Smashed to Australia for this first time in 2015, including a stint at the Adelaide Fringe. I talked with Gandini about all things juggling on Wednesday.

Gandini shares memories of his unconventional childhood: “Well I grew up in Havana. As a kid, I realised the other day, I always wanted to do this. When I was five I think I wrote a little essay at school saying that I wanted to be a clown when I grew up, and in Communist Cuba I think that was a little bit frowned upon. One wanted to be a revolutionary, or… But for some bizarre reason I’ve always wanted to preform… Actually I discovered juggling later, even though I had a fascination with the circus – When I say late, maybe at seventeen or eighteen. I could always juggle three balls, and then in my late teens I got obsessed.”

That obsession would fuel his career. He began performing regularly in London’s Covent Garden during the 1980s and together with his partner, former rhythmic gymnast Kati Ylä-Hokkala, he founded the Gandini Juggling company in 1992. The world of juggling has “changed monumentally” in recent years. Gandini explains: “When we started, our early work was quite experimental… I mean, I think we were making stuff that was quite difficult to script because it was so different to the classic juggling that came before. Whereas now I think if we were making those pieces, they would be accepted a lot easier… There’s been a reinventing of the art. Perhaps the biggest difference is the idea that it can work in larger amounts of time, whereas maybe before twenty-five years ago juggling was still the seven-minute act… And then the fact that it can deal with the same kind of subjects that dance and theatre can deal with. I think that’s been a big change.”

Smashed exemplifies the brave new world of juggling, running for sixty-minutes. Gandini discusses what sets Smashed apart from variety shows: “Smashed was made as a tribute to Pina Baush, the German choreographer. I would say it’s built in the structure of a dance theatre show. Ironically, I would say it has got echoes of variety. And I think the first ten-fifteen minutes of it, one could think one is watching variety. Then it has a twist, that makes one realise it’s something else. I think it deals with power or sexual politics, men and women and crooked relations. Things that traditionally circus didn’t deal with.”

If you are looking to experience something new and a little adult this Fringe season, then consider Smashed. Talking about his audience, Gandini admits: “I would quite like them to come in with a blank slate, then we can show them this world and hopefully they will relate to it.” After spending half an hour talking with Gandini, I am ready to run away to the circus.

Smashed will play at the Royal Croquet Club, Panama Club, between February 14th and March 14th.

For tickets and event information visit: www.adelaidefringe.com.au

Interview by Nicola Woolford.

 

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