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SINGAPORE: Absolutely entertaining and mind blowing! Korean production, ‘B-boyz & Ballerina’, was truly a breath of fresh air with sizzling hot, jaw-dropping and gravity defying dance moves that fuse classical ballet and break-dancing.
‘B-boyz & Ballerina’ has played sold out shows around the world and now, I know why.
Having seen the Gorilla Crew in action during an exclusive sneak peek at the Ministry of Sound ahead of their weekend performance at the Esplanade, I was looking forward to my Friday evening ‘date’ with the B-boyz.
It’s an understatement to say the performance was good. It so exceeded all my expectations that I couldn’t resist catching the show again just two days later.
The storyline of a ballerina falling in love with a street dancing b-boy may be clichéd, but that really isn’t the point since it’s there to really give the crew a chance to unleash their creativity and do what they do best - show off their fancy moves and entertain.
This is a non-verbal musical that proves that dance is truly a universal language.
Through just their moves, the Gorilla Crew managed to make the crowd laugh with their antics and innovative choreography. In just the same way, the crew very ingeniously used glow-in-the-dark masks and luminous gloves to create a haunting nightmare scene that sent chills down my spine.
That was not the only thing that sent chills running through me. Many a time I found myself subconsciously holding my breath as the dancers performed back flips, freezes, windmills, head-spins and many difficult moves that should definitely not be imitated without proper training or supervision.
After the show, I learnt that several of the dancers (including lead b-boy Kim Hyun Moon) were performing in spite of being injured. It was hard to tell, as on-stage they showed no signs that their injuries were severe enough to render the help of pain killers and even acupuncture to relieve the pain.
Being true professionals, the crew knew how to work the crowd, constantly encouraging the audience to clap along to the rhythmic music and even get up on their feet.
The B-boyz also often leapt off the stage to dance along the aisles and at one point even tossed a perspiration-soaked shirt into the audience, much to the delight (or disdain) of the person who caught it.
While the audience took a while to warm up, the charisma of the talented crew was absolutely undeniable and irresistible. By the end of the performance, the crowd was on their feet cheering and clapping, which the crew replied to with several encores.
The audience took to the Gorilla Crew so much that organizers say the dancers were mobbed by adoring teenagers at the stage door and screams of ‘Sarang hae yo’ (Korean for “I love you”) punctuated the performance.
I left ‘B-boyz & Ballerina’ with a new found respect for the energetic cast, but still trying to grapple with the fact that it’s humanly possible to do some of those mind blowing stunts they did!
While I might feel a bit nauseous watching them spin on top of their heads like there’s no tomorrow, with so many things happening on stage, this is one show that I could watch over again and not get sick of!
-CNA/os
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