Brute force has just premiered his new show in Buenos Aires: Aven, a place without a floor. Faithful to their habit of using natural elements (water, air) and of course challenging the gravitational, as is already in their traditionthe theater group offers a simple, direct and strong show, strongly supported by the music that tries to save the search for that Holy Grail so elusive to humans that we all call Happiness.

To make this show, those led by the ineffable here james first of all they had to find a suitable place. And since there wasn’t one, so… they made it up.

Established in some semi-vacant lots in via Julio Argentino Noble at 4100 (very close to GEBA), The company decided to build from scratch a huge shed with a concrete floor to which they added a stage, a roof and, of course, a whole arsenal of lights, sound and technical elements.. And so, after much effort, this floorless room emerged.

Less is more

But how is this new show of the incredible Fuerza Bruta? For starters, anyone looking for explosions and fireworks might be a little disappointed. Because the company’s bet here is on the side of simplicity. But simplicity as the rescue of a forgotten art (which most oriental artists know so well), that minimalism where obviously less is more.

Supported by a cast of young actors/performers/acrobats/dancers (14 in total, all highly skilled and possessing an overflowing sympathy) the Fuerza Bruta propose on the one hand the fracture of consolidated physical movements, and on the other (a classic in them) public participation as an extra element of the show, sometimes even preponderant.

Of the nine acts proposed (starting from a piece that combines high-level voices and percussion) obviously some stand out more than others. For instance World, where three actors walk around a giant globe hanging from harnesses and in the manner of gigantic astronauts. Y Sleeve proposes a huge tube filled with air that changes colour, with an actor hanging upside down and thousands of papers “attaching” him.

Maybe it is Whale the most spectacular of all, when from the back of the room emerges an inflatable blue whale carrying two actors in its belly directing it in Jacques Cousteau mode (a nod to the film Aquatic lifeby Wes Anderson?).

But suddenly the floorless room does. And that’s when it becomes a huge ravewith a DJ who harangues from the stage and throws water jets on the audience.

The music

OvenAs we said before, it has a lot of music. It’s here Gaby Kerpel’s work is brilliant (Partner of Gustavo Santaolalla, brother of Anibal Kerpel, that of the well-known progressive rock band Crucis, and also known as King Coya in his DJ aspect).

Salvaging elements of disco-electronic music from the 90s and 00s, Kerpel makes a suitable soundtrack for each of the acts.

“We had postponed the premiere – says Kerpel – due to the pandemic, and now we have left with all the desire to do this show that Diqui has been thinking about for some time. We created this place specifically for the show, there was nothing here before, it was field like the rest of the area”.

And he adds: “In the midst of the pandemic we said with Diqui that at least if we couldn’t do anything we had to start with music, and in August when rehearsals began we started throwing out ideas and these themes came up, very different from music I do for theater. I’m more pop, dance music.”

“Look -he concludes- that the cast is different, they are all very young dancers. I feel the world is changing a lot, it’s very complicated to travel and do things, unless you’re a mega star. can visit some of the cities that we always visit”.

Background

The prehistoric background of Fuerza Bruta goes far back in time. And they have to do when in 1984 a group of students from the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art arrived at the First Latin American Theater Festival of Córdoba.

come across an incredible performance by the Spanish theater group La Fura dels Baus and they decide to start a company similar to the one they baptize as the black (the name evoked the notorious black lists of censorship, in military times).

Later they change the name to The Black Organization and take the streets by storm (literally) in several cities across the country. And above all the legendary Cemento scene in Buenos Aires.

Thus they arrive on December 22 and 23, 1989, when they perform in front of more than 30,000 people in an extraordinary performance, entitled Zip Line / Obelisk, where the group puts together an obviously impressive aerial choreography on the walls of that national monument.

But four years later, two of its members and directors (Pichón Baldinu and Diqui James) decided to change the matter, left that group and left with of the guarda multidisciplinary cast that would revolutionize the theater scene not only in Argentina but in much of the world.

villa villa becomes the flagship show of this company, performing with great success in cities such as New York, Las Vegas, Mexico, London, Tokyo and Moscow among others.

But for 2004 an internal schism takes place and it will be the definitive division between Baldinu and James. Everyone now has different visions of the project, and this is how the former forms Ojalá, a large production house, while James creates Fuerza Bruta together with Gaby Kerpel.

Always using the air as a thin and volatile natural frame, Fuerza Bruta offers a style that has already been a classic for almost twenty years.

This is Here James

The evening will end in a disco. From start to finish, featuring music from this era and throwing back hits from the 2000s, 90s, 80s and 70s. People just don’t want to leave. And with an audience whose average age is 25, there are also many families who have come with their children.

The space is welcoming and familiar. And finally the entire cast mingles with the audience for a communal dance of the bodies. Oven It is an excellent proposal to spend a different summer in Buenos Aires. A summer where dizziness, good music and the unpredictable go hand in hand. What can I say, a whole beautiful adventure in search of long-awaited happiness.

But let Diqui James himself explain it. Exhausted but happy after the premiere, the director takes a few minutes (despite his already admitted low profile) to speak exclusively with Clarin.

“What we wanted to do was the happiest show in the world. And the hardest thing was to understand how much happiness can be conveyed in a show. It’s a very frustrating limitation to realize that this is so difficult to achieve,” he says.

“For us, it was like getting rid of a lot of 80s, 90s and dark baggage that we’ve been carrying around, and going ‘Well, I’m getting rid of all that, I’m empty of it and I’m trying to put on a show. of happiness”. Those images that are recontra basic: a butterfly, a whale, a world. There is nothing extravagant, nothing new. We wanted to convey happiness with that, with the simple, with the basics.”

-And for this they have created a new place, tailor-made for the company.

-Yup. It has always been important to us to build the place where we will do the show. There are no ready-made places useful for what we do. This was entirely designed with our technicians. Light, sound, laser, video, we’re here to make a mess! Because now this is our home.

-What is “Aven” for you?

-As the subtitle says, it’s a place without a floor. We have worked a lot on the idea of ​​artificial nature and the pursuit of happiness or the encounter with happiness, which we are also building with the public.

-This is a very virtual era, very mental, but you keep betting on the physical.

-Yes, totally. This is a primitive, physical show, but using 21st century technology. It’s about embracing technology and using it so that it reaches your body, so that you get excited, so that you’re not so mental.

-And how will Fuerza Bruta continue?

-In January we will receive many people who come from different parts of the world and who have waited a long time to see the news of the group. And this is how the future will be built. What we know for now and what we love is that we never want to leave here.

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