Gandini

Stop Breaking My Balls (2002) marks a key point in Gandini Juggling’s evolution, in that it was their first foray into making performances that dealt explicitly with narrative.

Originally entitled Don’t Break My Balls, this work emerged out of the simple layering of the sentimental song Senza Fine over an existing juggling choreography and out of the discovery that the choice of music could very clearly shape the interpretation of the material. This led Ylä-Hokkala and Gandini to develop this fragment into a longer performance, further shaping the interpre- tation by consciously defining two characters for the two performers to play.

This characterisation was explicitly informed by facets of Gandini and Ylä-Hokkala’s own personal relationship, a fact signalled to the audience in the programme notes. This, in turn, resulted in a moving and engaging theatrical experience that explored both obsession and complicité in love and juggling.

(orginal text from Juggling Trajectories, Gandini Juggling 1991 – 2015 by Thomas J M Wilson - link to shop)


THE TEAM

Director: JP Zaccarini
Choreographer: Gill Clarke
Lighting Designer: Jean-Ba Laude
Musical Saw: Guy Bellingham
Performers: Guy Bellingham, Sean Gandini, Kati Ylä-Hokkala
Music: This Is My Song written by Charlie Chaplin and performed by the Mantovani Orchestra, Senza Fine by Ornella Vanoni, O Gente da Minha Terra by Mariza, Button up your overcoat by Ruth Ethling, Even Tenor by Howard Skempton