The Hinterlands Ensemble Comes to CSPS

Cedar Rapids - "Detroit’s edge-walking Hinterlands Ensemble presents The Circuit, an ecstatic variety show, a high-octane take on the uniquely American entertainment phenomenon known as vaudeville. Think the Marx Brothers meets David Lynch meets the New Dance Show meets Bikini Kill meets something you’ve never heard of. The Circuit has dance acts (including the Detroit-style dance called Jit, which is rarely seen outside the Motor City), music acts, experimental percussion acts and much more. The show features a stellar lineup of Detroit-based performance artists, including Hardcore Detroit’s Haleem (Stringz) Rasul, PuppetArt’s Torri Lynn Frances, and sonic explorer Jon Brumit, all first-year Knight Arts Challenge Detroit winners.

Fri Oct 25 - Sat Oct 26 2013 - 8:00 pm
CSPS Hall, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids, 319-364-1580, www.legionarts.org
$15 advance -- $18 door -- Students $5 at the door

Called “the heart of American show business,” vaudeville was the variety show that unleashed dancers, musicians, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators, acrobats, jugglers and lecturing celebrities onto a single bill. Vaudeville was also the place where different parts of the American subculture first met, eyed each other warily, and commenced the give-and-take that defines the American experiment. With their inclusion of B-boys, riot grrrls, voguers, transcendentalists, ravers, yippies, juggalos, and conspiracy theorists, The Hinterlands make a daringly physical and shockingly funny original work that ushers vaudeville into the post-industrial age.

Formed in 2009, The Hinterlands create genre-defying multidisciplinary performance pieces that re-imagine the relationship between spectator and performer. The Hinterlands’ current body of work centers on searching for the ghosts of traditional American performance forms in contemporary culture and resuscitating them for the Internet Age. The company will be in residence all week working with local creatives at various locations."

(Source: Legion Arts press release)