Three strangers are stuck in an airport on seemingly endless layovers. As time passes, they find themselves left with no choice but to better get to know their companions and themselves.
Layovers is about patterns—the ones we create for ourselves, the ones we find ourselves stuck in—performed on the ground, and in the air, in a fusion of aerial arts, dance, juggling, comedy and music.
The concept of Layovers is a simple one: three strangers miss their flights and are stuck in a Huis Clos sort of airport purgatory. To entertain themselves and pass the time they have only the items in their luggage at their disposal. Luckily for us, they have a lot of baggage (pun very much intended).
Layovers was conceived from a deconstruction of the nature of juggling and object manipulation. What can juggling be if we think outside the box (or suitcase, in this instance), and begin exploring movement outside of our preconceived notions of tricks and tosses? What is a juggling pattern—is it a series of numbered throws, or can it be three hoops rolling on the ground? What about movement between three individuals? Where do we intersect, where do we drift apart?
We extrapolated these ideas onto the theme of Layovers, which is, at its most basic level—patterns—creating them for comfort and safety, how to break out of them when they become restrictive. Over the course of the show, our players, initially identifying as three distinct entities, discover that their lives are full of complementary patterns and intersections, made possible only by their previous missed connections.
Selected Inspirations for LAYOVERS Include:
Jay Gilligan’s workshops, podcast, and juggling.school website
《这！就是街舞》(Street Dance of China)
Huis Clos – Jean Paul Sartre
Gandini Juggling and Social Siteswaps
French Tutting artists including Zyko and Geometrie Variable
Trying to make a close connection at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport