"...showed them to be unimpressed, because he "didn't do anything." The dance aspect of it apparently meant nothing to them, just the tricks."

Interesting, as I've heard ballet audience members say exactly the same thing.

<small>[ 22 January 2003, 03:32 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Too true.

A review from Aeros' performance on Friday, January 31 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, by Alice Kaderlan Halsey in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/theater/106909_aeros03q.shtml

Gymnasts will tumble for you
AEROS combines modern dance and sports aerobics in show that also can be funny. BY SARAH KITE for The Richmond Times Dispatch

They might not be Olympians, but the 20 Romanian gymnasts of AEROS can perform some of the same awe-inspiring jumps and tumbles.

"These guys and women do fly through the air at times," said Joel Katz, executive director at the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts. "Gymnastics is very apparent here."

Wednesday's performance at the center will combine modern dance and sports aerobics, said Claudio Varlam, AEROS gymnast and a coach for the Romanian National Aerobics Team, last week during a break at a show in Melbourne, Fla.

AEROS was created by world-renowned choreographers Daniel Ezralow, David Parsons and Moses Pendleton, with collaboration from "STOMP" creators Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas.

click for more

I just watched Aeros on TV.
Here’s some comments, IMHO:

Pluses:
-Excellent choreography and timing.
-Excellent display of strength and skill.
-Excellent use of existing skills in an artistic display.

Minuses:
-Waste of skill(s) due to the lack of creative moves. Could be better if there were some moves from other disciplines of gymnastics, like capoeira, breakdance or other martial arts, and maybe Jackie Chan style stunts.
-Gets boring as the variety of moves is limited and moves gets repetitive.
-Costumes are boring.
-Limited use of props. Could be better if there were some more interesting props used, like martial arts weapons, ribbons, Cirque du Soleil type props.
-Limited variety of music. Could be more exciting if punk style music were used (with breakdance moves), DJ music etc.
-Limited variety of lighting effects. Disco lighting effects could be used (with breakdance moves etc).

Hermanchauw, I partly agree with you about the music and the lack of variety in movement. But what I would really like to see is true experimentation in movement, rather than simply importing movements from existing disciplines. The same thing goes for the music.

I too saw AEROS on TV and I have to agree with what djb has posted on this thread. Movement-wise, a lot of it looked familiar -- I seem to remember lots of back handspring step-outs. And personally, I found the rhythmic gymnasts somewhat under-utilised. More experimentation would definitely be welcome here (at least from my point of view), although I suppose AEROS would impress less-experienced audiences :p

<small>[ 11 June 2003, 07:57 AM: Message edited by: Malcolm Tay ]</small>

Yes, back handspring step-outs proliferated, probably because it's a pretty step (or so I've always thought). They're also not stressful on the body, so you can do a lot of them in an evening's performance, I guess.