A performance combining acrobatics, dance and physical comedy is coming to Nelsonville Saturday.
Galumpha, a dance company based in Binghamton, New York, will perform at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville, opera house executive director Tim Peacock said.
It will be a one-act show with as many as 12 or 13 short pieces, said Greg O'Brien, a director and performer in Galumpha. He described the pieces as short
punchy and interesting.
Although Galumpha is similar to companies such as Canada-based Cirque du Soleil, which also combines elements of acrobatics and dance, the difference is the performers in Galumpha are trained dancers, not acrobats, O'Brien said.
Directors Andy Horowitz and O'Brien, along with Marlon Torres, constitute the three-person performance.
Horowitz came to Athens early to help teach classes at the Ohio University School of Dance, O'Brien said.
Classes taught by Galumpha performers often focus on games and exercises to encourage a collaborative approach to choreography rather than focusing on technique only, O'Brien said.
You're most creative when you're trying not to be he said.
Horowitz worked with first-year dance majors and students in the Tier III class Social History Through the Arts yesterday, said Maura Keefe, associate professor in the School of Dance. She said she thinks the students enjoyed the movement games and noticed that when they played the games, students with varying degrees of dance experience quickly became even.
Today, Horowitz will teach partnering classes for the school of dance, Keefe said.
Although Galumpha is only about two years old, all three members have been performing for many years.
Horowitz was a martial artist by training, O'Brien said, and acted in Kung Fu movies in Asia before later becoming involved in dance. Torres was a dancer, actor and child star in Venezuela, where he was born and raised. O'Brien made the transition from athletics when he studied dance at Binghamton University.
O'Brien and Horowitz had several television performances with a previous dance company, Second Hand, including The Late Show with David Letterman and the Just for Laughs Festival
in Montreal, which about one billion people saw.
O'Brien said he loves it when women bring their boyfriends or husbands to performances. They often enjoy it more than they expect to.
It's not a typical dance performance
O'Brien said. I guarantee you'll see at least five things you've never seen before.
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Ann Deaton
