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"De La Guarda" Flies Angrily Through the AirA Hip Acrobatic Happening with AngstBy Lucy Komisar
De La Guarda is an Argentine troop of acrobatic performance artists who have taken this production to cities in Latin America and Europe. Think of it a circus act with angst. Some of the pieces, in fact, seem rather threatening. It there's a message, it's not sweetness and light. And it definitely catches you up for the hour of madness. It’s become a cult phenomenon with college kids.
Occasionally, the flyers grab up members of the audience for unexpected
sweeps high into the performance space.
"Villa Villa," the original name of the production, means "city city." If this is a
commentary about urban life, it's one of violence, anomie, craziness. The
production is enhanced by chimes, drums and horns, colored lights, strobes
and smoke.
There are no seats in the theater, and if you stand near the middle, be prepared to be grabbed for flight or at the very least dampened. "De La Guarda" Created and directed by Pichon Baldinu and Diqui James. Music by Gaby Kerpel.
Images by Richard Mitchell and Rudy Archuleta
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This production would some years ago have been called a
happening, if by that you might describe overhead bodies seen in shadow as
they float above billowing, translucent sheeting. Or people on ropes flying
through the air or rapidly climbing a diagonal along a wall, or people
standing on a platform stomping and chanting as they are drenched with
"rain" and throw wet paper into the audience.
A man breaks through the sheeting at the ceiling and
hangs upside down on a rope. People swinging on the ropes grab at each
other, then pull roughly apart. A man in a suit stands on a platform while
another man, suspended upside down from the underside, wears nothing on his
posterior but black leather bands that remind one of sado-masochistic garb.
A woman swinging on a rope smashes violently, legs akimbo, into the wall.
Daryl Roth Theatre, 20 Union Square East at East 15
St., NYC. Running time: 70 min. Tue-Thu 8pm; Fri 8pm & 10:30pm; Sat 7pm &
10pm; Sun 7pm. $65-$25 rush. 212-239-6200. 800-432-7250.