Il Cielo che Danza – The Dancing Sky .


Saturday 4th March


“…dancers appear from the heavens, emerge from the river and traverse the parkland, some suspended by Baroque, hand-painted, helium-filled spheres, some clothed in dazzling crinolines, some racing skyward along the river banks. A beautiful lightshow accompanied by exquisite music captivates audiences as performers spin and dance above their heads with flying ships, dizzy skywalks and material and ethereal icons floating across the sky.”

This was the Dancing Sky. A spectacle never seen before over Adelaide. We had seen the like of it at the opening ceremony to the Turino 2006 Winter Olympics, but to watch it happening over your head was quite an experience. Where were the safety nets?!!! Was it real? Where had all these people come from. Surely they were all here last night at the opening. Adelaide is too small to support a crowd this size for two nights in a row. Then there is tomorrow night, what will happen then? Everyone was excited, anticipating something different, something new. They were waiting to be impressed. I’m not sure they all got what they wanted. One man to my left stood up at the end and said “Bloody awful, terrible!”. I don’t think he did. The small children were looking around, seeing things the adults didn’t. They were too busy focussing on the river and the cables strung across above us.

The performance was preceded by the ringing bells from the cathedrals and began with the traditional Kaurna welcome and an introduction from Mike Rann. All around me were crying babies and crunching chips. I heard voices around me speaking different languages, German, something that sounded Danish or Swedish and others lost in the crowd. There was a multicultural feel and I felt that there were perhaps many visitors to Adelaide in the audience.

I was intrigued by the house shapes lanterns floating around, then noticed the house on the river and people floating, flying above. The dramatic music drew my attention away from the annoying conversation going on behind me and towards the smoke coming from the house on the river. The crowd were waiting for something to happen, waiting. The anticipation was building, they were restless, when the house collapsed to reveal a piano. There were gasps as another piano with a ballerina atop floated across the sky. The stage was in the sky, a huge arena arching above us. More complaints about the poor view from behind, but it was happening above us, I didn’t understand why they were complaining!!!

The translucent bubbles being pulled along the river by blackened speedboats intrigued me as well, the dancer’s silhouette just visible inside as they tumbled and rolled around. Fascinating as this was it seemed to go on a little too long, as if the dancers were waiting out the end of the piece of music. There was only so much tumbling they could do inside the bubbles.

As music from Swan Lake played, filling the air with sound, swan ballerinas appeared, suspended from cables strung taunt between cranes. The ballerinas moved effortlessly, flying, swimming as if in water, floating, free. Their shadows were projected onto the roof of the Festival Theatre, but then the crowd were becoming restless again. Only so much tumbling they could do, free yes, but restricted in their scope of movement.

More red smoke, then a child behind me calls out “Look, jellyfish!!!!” According to the story, these were street lights, but they did look quite a lot like jellyfish. Unfortunately the child’s caregiver felt the need to suppress this enthusiasm and correct the child, informing them that they were street lights. Is this how the wonder of childhood is converted to the staidness of adulthood?

Giant women in huge dresses floated past on the ground. These bizarre characters filled me with fear as I was taken back to a fairground experience in my childhood. I was happy when they left. People on bicycles appeared from everywhere. On the ground, overhead, frantically flying along to “The ride of the Valkyries” Then the ‘planets’ arrived. Huge illuminated balls suspended from the cables accompanied by women in long flowing dresses. The balls were beautifully decorated, some with baroque paintings, some resembling planets with craters or raging storms. Two balls were suspended together with a dancer in between and I found myself concerned for her well being, that she might be crushed between them. As the performance progressed she appeared to be having fun knocking them away as they came near. The dancer’s shadows were reflected on the balls, enhancing the illusion of them floating freely.

There were eight balls in total floating above the river, but the ball that gained the most attention was the one suspended over the crowd. How was this ball held up, there didn’t appear to be any cables over the crowd. The suspended dancer was spinning and twirling and reaching down to the crowd who eagerly reached back up to her. The ball dipped her towards the crowd and everyone was captivated. How was this happening? I finally worked out how as I saw the tethers being held by two people walking through the crowd, but the illusion of the dancer freely floating was captivating.

The music was classical and the feel was somewhat ‘old fashioned’ yet delivered as a contemporary performance with respect to the illusions being created and the unique style of the arena/stage above us. These ideas seemed, to me, to conflict and created a confusing performance. I had trouble following the story as I found my attention constantly drawn back to the spectacle overhead, but I am not sure that the accompanying story was hugely important to the enjoyment of this incredible sight.