REVIEW: Get a Grip - L'Art du Déplacement

This article was originally published here on Vibewire.

The thrill of witnessing a spectacle often lies in the moment we witness something that we are completely incapable of doing ourselves. In extreme cases it is something we thought humanly impossible. We gasp. We cheer. We fly through the air with our heroes. Olympians, acrobats and magicians fit comfortably in this category. We ought probably now add the exponents of Parkour. In Get a Grip – L’Art du Déplacement, the athletic members of Trace Elements seem to thoroughly enjoy making a spectacle of themselves as they leap around an elaborate jungle of scaffolding and platforms.

Get a Grip is an intimate, close-up look at the spectacular and relatively new movement forms of parkour and freerunning. With echoes of gymnastics, ballet and martial arts, parkour is part movement style, part extreme sport, part way of life. A lone figure performs simple stretches in dim light as the audience file into North Melbourne Town Hall. As the show progresses, the complexity and difficulty escalates. First the five performers leap repeatedly over a wooden box, demonstrating the myriad ways of doing so, each adding their own character and individuality. Then there are two boxes to clear. Then three.

While this is more of a demonstrative introduction than a fully formed art work, Get a Grip still has the potential to move you – not just through the beauty of the physical manoeuvres but also through the philosophy that is omnipresent in the actions. Dotted throughout the film footage are brief testimonials from some of the performers. They explain how parkour has helped them overcome personal fears such as heights, improved their self confidence, and provided direction for their lives. The film’s cinematography is impressive, and the image of the group scaling the arc over the Southbank footbridge whilst bewildered pedestrians pass by below is particularly striking. Their leaping and tumbling through the urban maze provokes a primal response, evoking images of the human being as graceful hunter. As these practitioners or traceurs fly between the buildings and multi-storey car parks of Melbourne, they manage to transform not only their bodies but also the environment around them. A fence is no longer a boundary but a tool used to catapult themselves forwards.

The live component is, surprisingly, the slightly less compelling of the two. After exploring breathtaking expanses and rock formations in rural Victoria, the constructed scaffolding bars seem cold and restrictive in comparison. Part of the pleasure of watching Parkour is seeing traceurs plot a path through their environment. In fact, Parkour is partly designed to help overcome obstacles whilst being pursued or in an emergency. The restrictions of performing in a theatre make the live sections seem more like a training session. But there is still an incredible array of skills on display, from climbing vertical boards to swiftly traversing scaffolding bars with perfect balance.

Get a Grip is a generous and entertaining introduction to the ‘art of displacement’. It doesn’t try too hard to exceed this simple brief, nor does it need to. The incredible skills on display, combined with its thoughtful intellectual basis, provide more than enough elements to entrance.

GET A GRIP L'ART DU DEPLACEMENT

Trace Elements

Dates: Tuesday 6 May – Thursday 8 May 2008
Times: 7:30pm
Theatre, Address: Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall
Prices: $20 / $15
Bookings: www.easytix.com.au/artshouse