Ten Thousand Hours

Malcolm Gladwell famously wrote: “It takes ten thousand hours to truly master anything.” Australian circus troupe Gravity & Other Myths have clearly taken these words to heart as their pinpoint acrobatics, tumbling, and balancing acts need to be seen to be believed this Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts.

What starts out looking like a casual rehearsal session with nine athletic people in black and grey gym gear stretching and swigging from their drink bottles soon turns into an expertly choreographed and mind-blowing exhibition of human capability. With a giant LED display providing visual accompaniment and a musician adding drums, synthesised beats, and occasional commentary, the crew performs a set of individual, small-group, and whole-team routines that take modern circus to a whole new place.

The audience gets in on the act too, with invitations to give one tumbler ‘in the style of’ suggestions for how to perform her routine – a chicken and a skydiver – which she incorporates with humour and aplomb. Another audience member is taken on stage and asked to draw in stick figures the shapes some of the crew make, then her drawings are hilariously recreated by the other crew members who have had their backs turned to the original. Later, one acrobat tries to balance on another’s shoulders and turn 360 degrees without either using their hands. They have 10 (unsuccessful) goes at it and a wonderful organic moment occurs partway through when a young voice shouts, “Nice try!” from somewhere in the stalls.

There’s more humour here besides. A routine in which the performers become grumpy cats and balance on each other on all fours becomes an audience favourite and reminds me of a puzzle I have called Cat Stax.

Balancing three-high, throwing each other blithely around like ragdolls, and doing things that no human body can do without at least Ten Thousand Hours of practice, Gravity & Other Myths make the implausible look like a walk in the park.