Call me conservative, but whilst
creativity and inventiveness are all very well, I had always understood
that the fundamental thing about juggling is not dropping stuff. Martin
Schwietzke does not seem to agree; during the 60 minutes of the
performance of
L’Écume de
l’Air which I saw, at least 30 balls hit the floor (yes, I’m
afraid I counted), and despite the smooth assurance of Schwietzke’s
manner as he simply replenished his supply from a basket by his side,
it became apparent early on that virtually none of those was being
jettisoned intentionally.
Schwietzke is self-taught, which may explain some of the idiosyncrasies
of his juggling. He seems more comfortable with even numbers of objects
than with odd; this is not an imaginary distinction, as the periodicity
and the patterns formed in air differ radically between odd and even.
Much of his basic three-ball work looks suspiciously like sneaky
two-plus-one variations, and when the numbers rise he appears readier
to work with six balls than five, even though at my performance he
executed the latter flawlessly whereas the sixer routine took several
attempts as balls thudded down (and always in pairs: when he missed
one, he would discard a second to return to a familiar four-ball
set-up).
There is invention in his routines. As well as the basic
tossing-and-catching, he engages in much of the more gymnastic side of
juggling, rolling balls around his body, launching and cradling them
not just in his hands but in the crooks of his elbows and neck, in cups
strapped to his knees and in the ones provided by nature, his ears. And
in Les Apostrophés he has teamed up with double bassist Michel
Bismut, who accompanies his routines by bowing, plucking and
percussively slapping his bass and by whistling and
vocalise. Bismut is attentive,
shaping his instrumental phrasing to fit Schwietzke’s dynamics, and
even improvising a diminuendo as one dropped ball rolled away.
But in the end it cannot be pretended that Les Apostrophés are a
double-act: they are Schwietzke and an accompanist. And Schwietzke is
not that hot. One fairly basic ingredient of juggling is variety of
objects juggled; apart from a rod/hoop/balloon coda which again is more
about grace than dexterity, forgive me but the work here is all balls.
Written for the Financial
Times.