DAILY CAMERA: Diavolo dance troupe incorporates extreme sports into shows
Here, the dancers aren’t the only performers. So is the set.
Sometimes it moves, sometimes it is stationary. But the dancers of Diavolo interact with it as if it’s another dance partner, rolling and spinning around it, diving under and off it, twirling it. They call their unique style of performance “architecture in motion.”
“We showcase how we, as humans, are affected by the environment and structure on emotional, social and physical levels,” says Chisa Yamaguchi, a dancer with the Los Angeles-based group, which is performing in Macky Auditorium on Thursday as part of the CU Presents series.
Diavolo has visited Boulder before — it’s a natural fit, Yamaguchi says, because this dance is highly athletic, almost like an extreme sport with an artistic intention.
“The state of Colorado is not a stranger to the athlete’s life and extreme sports,” she says. “Diavolo really emulates a lot of the principles people already have prescribed to their lives, and to be able to see that with a dance-centric aesthetic is really exciting.”
The quirkiness of the show also appeals to both a young and creative audience, she says.
The 12-member dance troupe typically performs four to five months out of the year, and when choreographing, they might rehearse eight to 12 hours a day. All routines come from the collaboration of the dancers, not an outside choreographer.
This year’s show — it’s made up of two pieces — is different than any of the past that Boulder has seen, in part because one of the works, “Fluid Infinities,” is…