Night For One - a visual juggling poem
He is found in an underground bunker, where crispy sounds and dusty recordings are his soundtrack and companion. The only light derives from his few lamps and the smell of damp concrete leads him to dripping water where he fills his dancing glass. His imagination makes him explore new twists and turns and somewhere in the dreamlike reality he recalls old memories from the variety stage.
Objects and body are moved and manipulated in the closed space he calls home. Time stops for a second while the multi-faceted performer plays his games and develops tricks out of the blue.
Created by and for
Samuel Gustavsson
Costume Design
Signe Beckmann
Length of show approx. 50 min
Supported by the Swedish arts grants committee
Night For One is available for touring 2010-2011
PRESSQUOTES
Creates abstract and poetic spaces.
Mette Garfield Terpsicore 2008
Movement patterns appear as a prolongation of the juggler’s body and steps together with the objects. Gustavsson reaches slowly out with his arms and pulls them quickly to him again. Rolling over on the floor in a playful movement which continues
naturally from the juggling manoeuvres. Turning and rolling on the suitcase so the lid it opens and closes. Throwing the blanket over him, or let a single ball sliding around the cheek, neck, arms and down over the legs. He stands so his body casts
long shadows on the backstage wall and points. And the white rings flows in contrast followed by its dark shadows on the back wall. Gustavsson is moving in something between a structural black and white film and an underground cave. In his own poetic and abstract moving image-universe, where forms and varied patterns is the performances meaning. Such is his style - using everyday objects such as a towel or
cheap wine glasses in his subtle played and humorous juggling choreography. And the spectacular circus style is deconstructed in favour of a simple and modern everyday magic in which the circus tricks is revealed. Suddenly it all goes up into a higher unity, the glasses is packed together, the towel folded away, along with the rings and the ball it goes down into the suitcase. And Gustavsson disappear as mist on his way to new circus spaces.
Wonderful waste of water.
Kim Møller Pedersen Folketidende 2008
It was almost incredible what dancer and newcircus artist Samuel Gustavsson in one “kulturnat” could get out of a large suitcase, three hollow tubes, a towel, and not to forget to glasses with water. ... There was a total control of every movement and every expression on the large dark stage floor where the newcircus artist with his visual juggling poem sucked all the attention in the theatre to him. Dance, juggling art and visual poetry melted so much together this Friday evening ...
Olympic performance by Samuel Gustavsson.
Johan Vanhie Straattheater.net 2008
Samuel Gustavsson, a gifted Danish juggler is in Belgium for the festival Chapter 2 in Brugges for 3 days where he gives master classes to other jugglers, along with other top jugglers. De Spil in Roeselare was hosting his poetic performance Night For One. We enjoyed almost an hour of a creative juggler whose body knows how to use everything at hand to combine dance and manipulation. Samuel does it all, in an empty scenery only populated with an army-suitcase and dripping water. He comes alive from under a blanket, and dresses. A bouncing ball is travelling around and
with his body and he is using the floor and the suitcase as dance space. The water drops are collected in a glass. Cardboard tubes and rings appear from his suitcase and he composes all kinds of innovative figures. He moves in, on, above and under. In short each object is used in all its possibilities. The functional light is controlled by him self and he plays with his own shadow. A combination of a ball and a tube makes a wonderful visual whole. He is only held back by his trousers without a belt.Olympic great he is in juggling 5 rings. But 6 rings and even one ring offer a very exciting and surprising spectacle. He does everything with them, let them curl up, turn itself around, rolling and crawling through. I don’t know what there can be done with an object that he can’t do. He juggles sitting, crawling, kneeling and standing. Even a towel offers opportunities to play and dance. He knows how to express his emotions. The towel is also used to wipe the sweat away, because Samuel is not standing
still for a second. The rings run on the back and rolls over and around the body, even across the head and ear to ear. A varied soundtrack is accompanying the performance. The dripping water has filled half a glass and in different ways it is poured over to another glass with the use of various places of the body. He
drinks his own number and disappears behind his blanket. An hour is filled and not a second is uninteresting, that gift is given only a few jugglers. A great one-manshow. There is much to learn from this man. He also gives master classes in addition to his
Chapter 2 attendance. Not to be missed. On his website is a film clip to be seen.
