Gandini Juggling to Present SMASHED at Udderbelly Festival, April 22-May 18

Gandini Juggling presents Smashed at the Udderbelly Festival at Southbank Centre Jubilee Gardens, off Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The show will run Tuesday 22nd April - Sunday 18th May 2014. Press Night: Wednesday 23rd April, 7.30pm.

Nine jugglers, four crockery sets and 80 apples - Welcome to Smashed, a sensational mix of skills and theatricality. Gandini Juggling has been at the forefront of contemporary circus for over 20 years and, having performed in over 40 countries, now bring their award-winning sensation to London for a limited season as part of the Udderbelly Festival at Southbank Centre.

Smashed, inspired by the work of Pina Bausch, is a mesmerising mix of circus, dance and theatre that brings together radically avant-garde juggling with family-friendly entertainment. Gandini Juggling explores conflict, relationships, lost love and quaint afternoon tea, disrupting the rigid conventions of etiquette and body language. Using apples - the forbidden fruit - Smashed follows the strained relationships between seven men and two women. With a soundtrack of popular music ranging from Tammy Wynette to Music Hall and Bach, this funny and inventive work will challenge your perception of juggling.

Gandini Juggling reinvent and reinvigorate juggling for the 21st Century. The company is a pioneer, bringing together traditional juggling, circus, contemporary dance, theatre and even mathematical notations.

Don't miss the first major London season of this global smash-hit show from one of the world's foremost juggling companies - Juggling: not just artful but art (Lyn Gardner, The Guardian 2012).

Smashed was originally commissioned as a short outdoor piece for the Watch This Space Festival at the National Theatre in 2010. Additional funding for this rework was received from the Arts Council England and La Bre?che Centre for the Circus Arts to create the theatre version which is touring today.

Smashed runs Tuesday 22nd April - Sunday 18th May Tuesday to Friday, 7.30pm, playing Saturday and Sunday, 6pm and Saturday matinees, 2.30pm. Running time: 60 minutes. The Udderbelly Festival takes place at the Southbank Centre, Jubilee Gardens, off Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. For more information, visit https://www.underbelly.co.uk/udderbelly-festival-at-southbank-centre. Tickets are available from https://www.underbelly.co.uk/node/5325454 and on 0844 545 8282, ranging from £12.50 to £17.

Udderbelly Festival is located in Jubilee Gardens, off Belvedere Road. The nearest underground stations are Waterloo (on the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and Waterloo & City lines), Embankment (on the Circle, District and Northern lines) and Westminster (on the Circle, District and Jubilee lines). The nearest rail station is Waterloo.

Gandini Juggling: Formed in 1992 by world-renowned juggler Sean Gandini and champion Rhythmic Gymnast Kati Yla-Hokkala, Gandini Juggling continues to be at the vanguard of contemporary circus, reinventing and reinvigorating juggling for the 21st Century. Gandini Juggling celebrates juggling in all its facets, exploring not just what juggling is, but what juggling can be.

Currently an ever-evolving ensemble made up of a virtuosic core group of four jugglers, they regularly expand to include up to 20 for specially commissioned events and performances. Ferociously prolific, they are constantly creating new works from radical fusions of art and juggling, through theatrical juggling performances, to family-friendly entertainment.

Since their inception the Gandinis have performed over 4,000 shows in 40 countries. They perform at many of the most prestigious festivals and venues throughout the world. This has included Buenos Aires International Circus Festival, Barcelona Merce Festival and at the renowned TNT Toulouse and Wiesbaden Opera House. Closer to home the Gandinis have regularly played London's Royal Opera House and The Royal National Theatre, UK.

Gandini Juggling continue to collaborate with a wide range of leading artists, including composers, computer programmers and sound engineers. They have even juggled alongside symphonic orchestras, their choreographed juggling patterns slightly meshed to canonical classical works.

In addition to performing, Gandini Juggling are very much in demand at leading circus schools. Teaching workshops, creating performances and supporting the next generation of circus artists. Alongside this, Gandini Juggling publish their own books and DVDs, continuing to support the wider understanding of the beautiful possibilities of juggling, for jugglers and non-jugglers alike.

Underbelly and Udderbelly Festival (10th April - 13th July): Underbelly is a UK based, live entertainment company. Their events and festivals division operates one of the largest operations at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe selling over 220,000 tickets for over 140 shows over 25 days. 2014 marks the sixth year of Udderbelly Festival at Southbank Centre and the third year of London Wonderground at Southbank Centre. Elsewhere Underbelly also produces Edinburgh's Christmas; Comedy Hullabaloo with the RSC in Stratford upon-Avon; West End Live in Trafalgar Square for Westminster City Council and the

Society of London Theatre. Through their Underbelly Productions arm they produce and promote live shows in London, throughout the UK and on tour internationally. In 2013 Underbelly sold over 750,000 tickets to their various events. For further information, visit www.underbelly.co.uk.

Now in its 6th year, the big upside-down purple cow has become an iconic feature on London's Southbank with over 127,000 tickets sold in 2013. The festival's laid-back atmosphere and packed programme of comedy, circus and family shows means that there's something for everyone to enjoy. Tickets for over 41 shows are on general release from Friday 31st January:

Southbank Centre is the UK's largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London's most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. For further information, visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk.

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