17 May 2012

Cleansing theatre

20/07/2011 11:11:00 a.m.

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Bathtubs make an acrobatic playground Soap.

Bathtubs make an acrobatic playground Soap.

IT opens with a splash and threatens to change bath time forever.
The New Zealand premiere of Soap opens at Wellington’s St James Theatre on July 28. A mixture of circus, comedy and cabaret, Soap is a show of music and acrobatics set in the confines of a bathroom with eight jugglers, dance trapeze artists and aerialists performing in, on and around a series of bathtubs.
Among them is Alessandro di Sazio, an award winning breakdance and hip hop dancer who has harnessed his dance skills to perform the hand balancing acts in Soap. Di Sazio joined the show in March and after seasons in Germany and Holland he’s looking forward to his first trip down under. He told Capital Times his transition from modern dance to hand balancing on a bathtub wasn’t that difficult.
“I’m used to being on my hands,” di Sazio says. “It’s a little more dangerous on a tub because of the water but it’s easy for me because for years I’ve done it on the floor.”
In Soap he uses a special wax on his hands so he doesn’t slip.
Di Sazio grew up in Sicily but moved to Germany with his parents at the age of nine. He started dancing at 12, doing breakdance for eight years before getting into hip hop. As part of the Havox Crew he was crowned German champion in breakdance and hip hop five times and took the individual title in the world hip hop championships in 2003. He then went on to study modern dance at the Danceworks school in Germany.
For di Sazio performing in shows means he’s been able to take his love of dance and turn it into a paying career.
“It’s hard to live as a full-time dancer. Shows have allowed me to do this.”
He’s toured with German production company, Circle Eleven, before. In fact it was while he was with another dance show that he received the call to Soap.
“They said they were looking for a hand stand artist and as a joke I said, ‘hey I could do it’. One month later the producer called me.”
Soap combines its water-soaked acts with a soundtrack of pop, blues and rock including the music of Mika, Sia, Tool, Gnarls Barkley and Goldfrapp.  It played for two years at the Chamaleon Theatre in Berlin and London’s Riverside Studios and to packed houses at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at the Sydney Opera House earlier this year. After its tour of five New Zealand centres the show heads to Holland.
Soap, St James Theatre, July 28 to August 7.
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Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Briefs

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    Fallon-Morell will speak at St Patrick’s College Hall on March 29.

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    White plays at Capital E from March 7-11.
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    March 11 is Young Writers and Readers Day and readings from children’s writers and illustrators Lynley Dodd and Gavin Bishop.

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