An incredible display of strength, vulnerability,  flexibility and a celebration of the human spirit.

By Sebastian Purcell

Humans offers 10 acrobats pushing themselves to the extreme as they explore the physical and emotional limits of their bodies. The breathtaking strength, masterful, and at times down right freakish choreography is set to a Spanish inspired soundtrack. This, combined with the inspiring performers (Caroline Baillon, Marty Evans, Piri Goodman, Keaton Hentoff-Killian, Bridie Hooper, Cecilia Martin, Hamish McCourty, Daniel O’Brien, Kimberley O’Brien, Jarrod Takle) leads us beautifully to reflect on our lives, loved ones, and the burdens we all must overcome to survive and thrive.  The show invites you to consider how much can we take as humans? How much weight can we carry? And, who can we trust to support us?

Yaron Lifschitz brings this extraordinary performance to life with a stripped bare stage and a lighting design that takes you from night to day, to sunset and dawn. The ensemble pushes the boundaries of comfort before the show even begins undressing in front of the entering audience, stripping away insecurities.

Humans focuses on the triumph over adversity and disability, in a moving display the loss of one’s legs is transformed into the strength of the upper body. This prompts the audience to reflect on our ability as humans to support and raise our fellow brothers and sisters up, or to go out of our way to make life difficult.

The performance insightfully demonstrated the power of teamwork. The most brilliant moments were the human chains, stacking three women on top of each other’s shoulders, a nod to female empowerment, and that only with the help of another are you able to have your elbow licked. This routine offered a light-hearted comedic moment but also offered a powerful representation of going it alone, and conforming to everyone else.

Humans is about perseverance. It shows that every muscle can be trained, that our weakest parts can be our strongest, and that failure is the bedrock of success. The body and mind are only as vulnerable as we allow it to be, a crash landing may not be the thing to fear but rather an opportunity in the strength and resilience it builds.

This is one outstanding piece of acrobatics that is a testament to endurance and dedication, but also a thought-provoking theatrical experience that will have you questioning your limits, your comfort zone, and hopefully leave you with the desire to stretch your own limits.

Humans presented by Circa plays at the Arts Centre Melbourne Wednesday 27 Nov – Sat 30 Nov 2019.

Visit https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/2019/circus-and-magic/humans-by-circa

Photography by Sarah Walker