Red Bull’s “Flying Bach” rolled into town last week, an amazing show fusing together breakdance crew Flying Steps and classical music from 18th century composer, Johann Sebastian Bach.
Tri Nguyen from You Can Dance Studio was on the scene to check it out first hand…
They were like “[a]re you serious?” as Vartan Bassil (founder of the Flying Steps and choreographer of Red Bull Flying Back) talked about dancing to the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. As his vision of the clash of cultures and expectations for a World Tour. From Japan, Berlin and Lebanon, they’ve brought their masterpiece down to Australia.
An enticing show with a love story of its own; desire meets refusal, arrogance meets curiosity, and, breakdance meets contemporary. It’s the sort of thing you would think only works in generic dance movies. On stage however, Christoph Hagel (Flying steps and opera director) prove the contrary with their immense breathtaking performance.
Large, calm and elegant, the stage was ever so mysterious and captivating. A performance of incredible musicality and interpretation of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier; the combination of classic and modern, the shift of two dance cultures intertwined. Note by note. Step by step. With piano, harpsichord, and electronic beats…and visuals. And it only got better and better. Seventy (70) minutes filled with headspins, power moves, and freezes in its strong yet graceful form.
Truly a clash of cultures, and not just on stage. A completely filled theatre with an audience of all ages. The old love of classical music sitting side by side with the new profound movement of dance.
I became absorbed, at first impression, to the action of their work gradually gaining new lucidity on stage. The Red Bull Flying Bach, so coolly exemplary across an uncanny range of roles portrayed through the motion of contemporary meet breakdance in a classical world.
- Tri Nguyen of Black Label Kreatives
Special thanks to Red Bull.
