Chord and Tendon
To call Opus a circus performance might be misleading. While Circa, Yaron Lifschitz’s celebrated Australian company, is built on acrobats, its ability to explore sophisticated themes, from sexual politics to philosophical despair, leaves most circus troupes looking mawkish. In Opus, the Debussy String Quartet is scattered around the stage, driving the performance rather than punctuating it. Like dancers, the acrobats meet the fevered pitch of the three chosen Shostakovich string quartets. As if to emphasize the danger that such tumultuous music might visit upon 14 flying bodies, the musicians are eventually provided with blindfolds. Issues of class and conflict are suggested through tumbles, leaps, and carefully choreographed gestures. Human towers take on a global precariousness, and falling forms echo personal tragedy. Even frivolous moments of play are washed out by stark light and forced smiles. This is, perhaps, what circus might have been if Pina Bausch had chosen to be a ringmaster — highly theatrical, thought-provoking, disarming, and delightfully unfamiliar.
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