Friday afternoon I stepped into Mint Plaza for this short but stunning presentation by Project Bandaloop. They perform death-defying dances while suspended off the sides of buildings by mountain climbing ropes. The crowd below looked up to watch an excerpt from the up-coming Bound(less). Three women wearing one long dress make their way down the face of an 8 story building, sometimes struggling with each other, sometimes moving in harmony. The dancers create the illusion that they are walking down the face of the building. It seems like it would be terrifying to watch, but it was entrancing, & I was impressed by their synchronization as well as their ab strength. The audience gasped & applauded moves in which the dancers pushed away from the wall & appeared to fly. We also laughed when 2 workers in the building appeared at their windows to see what was going on.
This was followed by Swing, a humorous duet in which a swing dance couple takes advantage of being airborne to do impossible lifts & jumps. In between set-ups, the company's director, Amelia Rudolph, talked about the history of the Bandaloop & answered questions from the audience. This peek made me want to check out their full performance in Oakland next weekend.§ Sneak Preview of Bound(less)
Project Bandaloop
Friday, September 9 at 5:00 pm
The Mint Plaza
§ Bound(less)
Project Bandaloop
September 15-17 at 8:30 pm
The Great Wall, at the corner of West Grand and Broadway in uptown Oakland
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