The BCA Gets “UnTamed"

Thursday night the Cyclorama hosted the world premiere of Suspended Cirque dance group’s “UnTamed: The Wild Underground,” an hour-long performance combining aerial acrobatics, dance, and an eerie storyline about one man’s descent into a magical world.

Set in the round under the Cyclorama’s famous skylight dome, the story followed Man as he falls down a ribbon Alice-in-Wonderland-style and finds himself in a dark underworld, trying to understand his new environment. He soon discovers three aerialists (the Fates) suspended in silk cocoons, and finds a friendly companion and guide of sorts in a spritely mime named Pan.

These five performers – all founding members of the New York-based troupe – narrate the core of the story through aerial acrobatics, but Man also encounters a powerful violinist queen, serpentine contortionists, and a group of female dancers as he navigates the underworld. The troupe capitalized on their performers’ strengths, particularly highlighting the three female aerialists whose strength and control of movement as they climbed, wound, and soared through the air on hanging silks astounded the audience.

Using a mostly recorded soundtrack and some live vocals, “UnTamed” presented a unique and pared-down version of the theater form recently popularized by Cirque du Soleil. Its displays of pure physical ability were more notable than its often abstract plot, and it certainly brought something new to the Boston theater landscape, if only for one night.

A short feast for the eyes, the winding exploration concluded as Man, having learned many of the ways of the underground and its inhabitants, attempts to climb his way back up the ribbon Olympus.

Though prices ran a bit steep for this premiere event benefitting the BCA, Suspended Cirque’s brand of theater made for an entertaining night, and I for one would welcome them back. There must be fewer venues more fitting for their high-flying art than under the Cyclorama’s starry dome.