The Aluminum Show utilized radical lighting, chrome creatures and foil backgrounds to tell a story out of this world. The Reynolds Performance Hall was filled from floor to balcony on October 24th with people eager to see the spectacle.
An aluminum curtain hung on the stage as the crew prepared for their visual performance. After some announcements, the curtain was lifted, revealing worm-like “creatures” and an astronaut. The starry background and distant planet placed the performance on a distant planet.
“The astronaut’s going on this new planet, discovering new things,” junior Zack Stone said.
Stone described how the colors of the lighting identified the emotions of the creatures and characters. He said the red showed danger, blue showed mourning and pink represented love.
“It was more of a visual of what’s going on. You can see the story,” Stone said.
The story was about an astronaut who found an alien creature and brought him to his parents, despite the dangers of other creatures he faced. All of this was told through aluminum and imagination.
Although the performance had an overarching story, the appeal came from the visual aspects and movement of the actors.
“I like how they were flexible with their moves,” Stone said. “It [contributed]to their personality, especially with the new fantasy creatures.”
Throughout the performance, the actors switched from dancing onstage with skin-tight costumes to manipulating human-sized aluminum slinkies. Actors wore these aluminum props to create vivid backgrounds and the alien creatures. They would then dance to music.
“It’s not only dancing, it’s like we’re acting also,” Chernov said. “We’re being a creature.”
“We do dialogue with our body, with our movements,” Chernov said. “You don’t need to talk physically with your mouth to create a dialogue.”
The combination of visual dialogue and audience imagination make the show into what it is.
“You talk with your body and you create with your imagination. It’s spectacular,” Chernov said.
Telling the story visually was important for the Aluminum Show because the actors speak a different language and are originally from Israel.
“It’s very important to us to come here, to the big theatre, to the big United States of America and to do our small thing,” Chernov said. “Even though we’re far away from Israel, we have a lot to bring with us.”
The members of the show have a common interest in theater and theatrical expression.
“Our heart is in it,” he said. “People choose to be a lawyer, people choose to be a doctor and people choose to bring their heart on the stage to the audience.”
Having completed the performance, Charnov said he can feel so moved at times that he said he’ll tear up.
Although the group is far away from their families in Israel, they created a bond with one-another through the show.
“We’re the Aluminum Family,”Chernov said. “It’s not only the dancers, it’s the dancers with the actors and with the crew. Everyone here, we’re one big family,”
Photos courtesy of Shiori Soya.
