If you visited Parcel 5 in downtown Rochester Sept. 19 or Sept. 20 and looked up, you might have seen a giant illuminated blow-up ball suspended from a crane, lighting up the night sky. That display was part of a multidisciplinary show called “SPHERE,” put on by the Italian performing company eVenti Verticali as a part of the Rochester Fringe Festival.
The Rochester Fringe Festival, presently sponsored by ESL Federal Credit Union, is the largest multidisciplinary performing arts festival in New York, involving more than 600 performances this year between from Sept. 9 and20. Within the festival, it has become tradition for Parcel 5 to host a crazy, cutting-edge free performance to round out Fringe festivities. Previously, Rochester has seen a variety of circuses performing spectacular feats, including a pianist playing a grand piano suspended from a hot air balloon (Cirque Inextremiste’s “EXIT” in 2023) and a trapeze artist swinging from a tightrope-balancing motorcycle (The Flying Españas’s “Flippin Metal Circus” in 2022). This year was no different, with one of the most highly anticipated performances dominating local newspaper headlines, “SPHERE” by eVenti Verticali.
eVenti Verticali is a vertical dance and theater company established in 2006 in Sardinia, Italy. Since their inception, the company has focused on choreography that pushes the limits of dance by taking movement to a new axis — a vertical one to be exact. Each of the company’s three repertoire pieces, “CUBE,” “FRAMEWORK,” and “SPHERE,” lifts the performers far above the heads of their audience, utilizing custom architectural creations to establish a unique stage.
For “SPHERE,” a crane suspended a massive inflatable clear balloon from a metal cross-shaped rig, with a lyra (aerial hoop) hanging from each end of the metal foundation. The performance showcased six performers who all used climbing gear to scale and rappel around the structure. Four performers also used the lyras throughout parts of the set, with the show lasting 30 minutes in total.
The performance included no program, and while the plot was somewhat ambiguous at times, the show’s general ideas came across in the choreography. First, a performer playing the role of an astronaut, made clear by his silver costume, explored the universe and planted a seed which brought life into a planet, becoming the titular sphere. This act was illustrated through a solo wherein the performer was suspended from the metal rig and seemed to float around the night sky like an astronaut in space. Then, the first life on the planet came to be; a woman donning a bright pink bob wig and purple-striped bodysuit, representative of an alien creature, performed above the inflating balloon until it was large enough for her to climb inside. Soon, four more alien women populated the planet, climbing up the outer edge of the sphere until, after an array of dazzling tricks, they made it all the way to the top. However, the planet was not allowed to prosper for long, and the astronaut returned only to ruin the ecosystem he created by letting air out of the balloon, causing it to deflate and marking the end of the show.
While these actions were obvious, how they related to the extraterrestrial plot was muddied, and very few of the attendees I talked to felt confident that they understood what they watched. Despite the obvious confusion in the crowd, not a single person who spoke with me was unimpressed. For “SPHERE”, confusion added to the experience, as the less confident the audience was in describing the plot, the more in awe they seemed. As the performance closed, I heard many comments from the crowd praising the show’s aerial extravaganza and overall uniqueness. “That was really super epic and awesome,” an audience member commented.
“SPHERE” was definitely a spectacle, with the most impressive part of the show being the choreography performed by the four female alien performers on the outside of the balloon. The dancers suspended themselves so that their bodies were perpendicular to the ground and then did a series of tricks: splits, backflips, cartwheels, and more. This segment was a breathtaking exhibition of skill and control which looked even more awe-inspiring when performed at least 40 feet in the air. However, there were several other parts of the show which by far dulled in comparison and were only entertaining because of their vertical positioning. I wish that overall, there’d been more advanced movements exhibited in the choreography, especially on the lyra apparatuses which went very underutilized.
Additionally, “SPHERE” used sound and lighting to their fullest potential, making the entirety of Parcel 5 feel like an extension of the show up above. One especially cool element was the use of silhouette on a nearby building while the astronaut performed his opening solo. A bright light cast on him not only created an interesting contrast on his figure but also shined across the sky to project his outline. Little details like this made the show feel even more technically impressive.
Overall, the eVenti Verticali performance was definitely new and exciting, and I’d never seen something like it put on at an outdoor venue. The whole experience had a life of its own; ducking through the crowd, shivering in the September breeze, and craning my head back to see the performers as they kept being lifted higher and higher into the air all made the show seem more impressive. The buzzing energy in the crowd and the unique staging of the show made the performers feel larger than life, and the athleticism embodied by the dancers was remarkable. Next year, when the next free spectacular gets staged at Parcel 5, I’d recommend everyone go. Who knows what lies in store? And, if my perspective isn’t suitably persuasive, here’s one more testament from the crowd: “Who wouldn’t like that? It was amazing.”
