FIJIAN FLYING CIRCUS ★★★★
South Bank Piazza, until October 4
Festivals can be like bento boxes: everyone goes for the teriyaki chicken and leaves the salad for last. Shows that people suspect are good for them can struggle for audiences, while everyone’s off watching the fireworks or the jukebox musical.
Which is why the creation of the Fijian Flying Circus is a smart move for the country’s major dance company VOU – it’s an exportable cultural experience that anyone can enjoy, families in particular.
Fiji’s very first circus is a high-energy, lavishly costumed show packed with acrobatic thrills and aerial spills as well as traditional Fijian drumming, dance and singing. Every routine says something about the country’s geography, fauna or folklore, and you’ll come out of it feeling enriched as well as amused.
A circus tent has been erected inside South Bank Piazza, and grass-skirted islanders with shark-tooth necklaces usher you inside with a cheery “bula bula” greeting.
The show’s storyline follows a girl called Loma (Evangeline Kumar) whose magical shoes are stolen by a mischievous veli, or Fijian sprite.
Loma’s pursuit puts her in the way of juggling fireflies, red-breasted parrots who dangle from aerial silks, and a forest that comes to life for a rousing drumming jam.
Loma meets Fiji’s tallest mountain, Tomanivi, who is a scribe and records stories in her great book (who knew?), as well as a team of acrobatic monkey bats.
In one striking routine Loma is suspended by her hair; she later shows her tightrope-walking prowess. A clownish ringmaster (Malakai Tuima) narrates the proceedings, but also has tricks up his sleeve.
VOU masterminds Sachiko and Edward Soro launched the circus just three years ago with the help of Cuban trainers Yordanka Quesada and Yosvel Guerrero, and it has already performed across Fiji, Tahiti, New Caledonia and New Zealand.
Through its Conservatorium of Dance in Nadi, the company gives young Fijians pathways into the arts, graduating 20 dancers a year from their scholarship program and putting them straight into paid jobs.
Contemporary circus has become an important genre on the arts circuit, and it’s exciting to see the work of a near neighbour that packs so much cultural punch. That said, someone might still have to explain to me those Neil Diamond gags.
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