At first, it seems like any other concert, except for the diaphanous cloth divider that separates the 11-member band from the audience. But soon after the curtain drops, so do acrobats, who descend from the ceiling in harnesses or slide down lengths of fabric. They begin to contort, to dance horizontally by bouncing off the walls, or to suspend themselves by tying various kinds of knots in the fabric and balancing against them. All the while, the acrobatics are accompanied by music from the jazz ensemble, which includes cello, electric guitar and flugelhorn. Welcome to the Shurum Burum Jazz Circus.
Shurum Burum is Yiddish for “topsy-turvy,” and the Jazz Circus, the latest project of Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band member and former Ashkenaz Festival coordinator David Buchbinder, succeeds in turning the concept of the jazz concert upside down. A goal of the performance is reportedly to induce synaethesia, a condition in which one’s senses become jumbled and one can see sounds and hear colours. While the production may fall short of this hallucinogenic goal, the show provides an innovative and interesting combination of music and movement in several forms.
The music, mostly jazz but sometimes classical or klezmer-inflected, nicely complements the other goings-on, which take place in several performance spaces set up within a warehouse in the Distillery District. A fire-spinning act is accompanied by a drum solo; the visual ‘wheel of fire’ effect is reinforced by the sound of continuous drumming.
The performance is divided into a series of acts accompanied by different songs. An acrobat holds up her own weight in a cloth sling. Another suspends herself from a bar by the back of her neck, then by her ankles. A hula hooper spins five metal hoops at once on different parts of her body. One character is transformed by the music and interaction with the sprightly, sprite-like acrobats into a sensual belly dancer who acts as a sort of emcee for the rest of the show. However, the acts that focused on her tended to be the least interesting of the evening; one number involved her spinning continuously on a stage for several minutes, and lacked much of a point.
In the most breathtaking, nail-biting performance of the evening, two contortionists twist their bodies while balancing lit candelabras on their heads, their feet and in their mouths. They manage to move around each other without burning each other or themselves and the effect is stunning.
Providing inventive performances melded with enjoyable new jazz, the Shurum Burum Jazz Circus is a welcome opportunity for a topsy-turvy artistic experience.
The Shurum Burum Jazz Circus runs until Oct. 17 at the Stone Distillery at the Distillery Historic District, 55 Mill St. For more information, call (416) 872-1212.
