Preview: THE ALUMINUM SHOW at Cerritos Center For The Performing Arts
75-minute dance and acrobatic spectacle turns everyday metal objects into fantastical art
I’m dating myself here, but I lived in New York City when Blue Man Group was in its heyday. I’ve seen STOMP three times. I went to The Donkey Show in the East Village and De La Guarda near Union Square. And I’ve subsequently sampled many other “immersive” or “interactive” theater experiences in New York and LA over the past two decades.
But, somehow, I’ve never heard of “The Aluminum Show.”
The Aluminum Show, which will play on January 24 at the Cerritos Center for the Arts, is a 75-minute spectacle that transforms everyday objects into moving, dancing works of art. It is accompanied by a rhythmic beat and a handful of acrobats performing various stunts on stage.
The show has been touring the globe since 2003, when it debuted at the Israel Festival, stopping only briefly during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s called the “Aluminum” show because the spectacle is made of metal: metal pipes, pumped-up foil tubes, and thin silver sheets—all brought to life by a 9-person team of dancers, acrobats, and puppeteers.
Ido Tadmor, one of Israel’s foremost choreographers, and Kim Gordon choreograph the show.
“The Aluminum Show is all about taking your regular day-to-day materials, such as kitchen foil or air-conditioning tubes—materials that you would never guess can have any other use than the one we are used to—and transforming them, with our great artists, into a new and amazing universe,” said the show’s creator, Ilan Azriel.
Like STOMP, the show pulls the audience into the action: Giant inflated foil robots traipse through the audience; tendrils of silver tubes curl above the heads of the whole orchestra section; weightless tin confetti pieces swirl from the ceiling.
“The audience gets to see, touch, feel, and play with the different elements of the show,” Azriel said. “But also, after the show we are having an Aluminum Party where everybody gets to play and take photos with the characters and material.”
It helps that there is no dialogue—merely a tableau of stunts, dance, and imagery born of the creators’ imaginations.
“It originated in Israel, but we have found out that everywhere we perform, the show is accepted greatly,” said the show’s creative director Idan Amit. “I assume this is since the show has no language barrier. Its only languages are imagination, dance, music, and visual theatre. And these elements have no borders or cultural limitations.”
And be forewarned—there may be a point when an audience member is pulled on stage and subsequently devoured by some sort of metal-esque contraption.
All in all, it’s a party.
“It starts as quite a standard show, but soon enough, so many things start to happen on stage and in the theatre,” Amit said. “The audience’s reaction is always the same—‘Wow.’”
The Aluminum Show plays at the Cerritos Center for the Arts on January 24. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster.
*Photos by Kfir Bolotin
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