UK

4x4 - ephemeral architectures

4 x 4 : a collaboration between two worlds: ballet & juggling

★★★★ «A show of elegant, wistful beauty» The Guardian
★★★★ «A splendid blend of talents imbued with both elegance and wit»The Times
★★★★ «A clever, cool and wondrous show that gives delight» The Stage
★★★★ «A phenomenal display» Everything Theatre

«The marriage of Ballet, considered the highest of arts, with Juggling, frequently considered amongst the lowest of arts, is full of rich possibilities, both from a structural point of view but also thematically. Both worlds come with an arsenal of perceived images ready to be reassembled and ripe for a challenging marriage. We hope that this work will help blur the labelling barriers between the art forms. Over the years, we have developed a very thorough lexicon of juggling vocabulary. We are excited and intrigued about this new language meeting the complex, older and well documented world of Ballet.» Sean Gandini, August 2014

4 x 4 is a collaboration between two worlds: ballet and juggling.

Both these formalised systems are ephemeral journeys through time and space, leaving an unseen trace, like an imaginary architecture.
4 x 4 is a celebration of where these paths meet.

For the last decade the Gandinis have often had a guest dancer, a solitary figure like a magician illuminating patterns, framing, wandering amongst the traces. This project aims to even out the balance between dancers and jugglers so it is an equal dialogue, a sharing of space.

Formed in 1992 by world-renowned jugglers Sean Gandini and Kati Ylä-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 jugglers, they regularly expand to include up to twenty performers for specially commissioned events and performances. Gandini Juggling is based in London and for its performances invites talented jugglers from all over the world. In addition to performing, Gandinis are very much in demand at leading circus schools, where they teach workshops, create performances, and support the next generation of circus artists. Alongside all this, the company publish their own books and DVDs, continuing to support the wider understanding of the beautiful possibilities of juggling, for jugglers and non-jugglers alike.