Imago at Assembly Roxy is directed by former Cirque du Soleil artists and performed by a married couple. It’s a mix of contemporary dance and aerial work on ropes, and the strength of their bodies, especially their core, is terrifyingly awesome. Terrifying, because some of the aerial work looks so precarious and almost impossible.
The show begins in near darkness, further obscured by smoke across the stage. The venue, a former church, is the perfect space for Imago’s aerial work. At times it was hard to see the performers as they became obscured by the smoke or, towards the end, by a single bright beam of light projecting forward and ‘blinding’ the audience in the rows it shone directly on. That said, the effect of two layers created by this clever lighting technique was otherwise mesmerising.
Other than the ropes and the lighting effects, all eyes are on the performers: one nigh-on silent and the other huffing and puffing. The efforts made by the latter certainly looked like very hard work, though I suspect his audible sighing was more about the story than about what otherwise seemed like effortless artistry.
The trope was apparently about ‘push and pull’, there was plenty of both, and I heard audience members debating after the show what it had actually been about. The consensus seemed to be ‘rescue at sea’. In a lot of ways that didn’t really seem to matter—the crux was the astonishing perfection and control of their movements, separately and together: mainly when they worked together, almost fusing into one being. In the air especially, it was hard to disentangle their limbs to see who was holding which arm or leg, creating an illusion of complete unsupported aerial suspension.
There were moments throughout Imago when it was hard not to believe one of them would fall, so precarious did their hold feel and, as with all excellent circus, that suspense, in both senses of the word, is what was so riveting about this performance. One word of caution though, don’t bring your dummy-toting toddler, or young children generally: they will be bored and fidget, if today’s performance was anything to go by. And for all its bravura and perfection, I have to say I felt I’d seen it all before.
