US-based cast
Video
SWAY’s Bloom! trailer 2023
SWAY’s Bloom! promo 2023
Bloom! petal drop, July, 2022
Upcoming Tour Dates
Mon, Oct 21, 2024 |
La Jolla Playhouse , Surprise! at Innovation Night |
San Diego, CA |
Please check back soon for newly announced tour dates!
Photo Gallery
High-resolution photos are not available on this webpage. To access high resolution images or technical specifications for this artist send an email to: info@elsieman.org, be sure to include which artist you are interested in!
Press
“… like living statues soaring between heaven and earth…their heads in the sky, hearts close to the sun … produced brilliantly eclectic images that pay homage to Michelangelo, Mary Poppins, Folon and Magritte.”
–Nord Éclair, France
“Insane, fantastic, madness or simply wonderful rang the commentary of the amazed audience about the joyous performance taking place high over their heads…”
–Oberhessische Presse, Germany
“Swoon! will make hearts go pitter-pat no matter how old the viewer.“
–Delia O’Hara, The Chicago Sun Times
full article (PDF)
More Press Quotes
“Giving audiences the chance to watch this circus in the sky, performers blend acrobatics, dance, and theatre together into a performance often leaving people gasping at their seemingly impossible movement.“
– Mandira Nayar, The Hindu
full article
Audience Reactions
From audience members of Flint Hills Children’s Festival, Ordway, MN in 2013:
“Incredible! The performers were so engaged with the audience and friendly before and after their performance. Just extraordinary.”
The company “was wonderful – easy to see from anywhere and so innovative. Our kids wanted to come back see them again! ”
The Company “was magical, breathtaking, and amazing. It was so beautiful that I cried.”
“My child literally could not stop jumping up and down and laughing while watching”
“I cannot stop talking about Swoon! Truly fantastic”
For Event Planners and Presenters
Please see “Custom Events” under “Repertory” below, and images found at company’s website.
Repertory
Bloom! is a colorful and spirited aerial spectacle performed atop SWAY’s bespoke 15-foot sway poles. Inspired by the beautiful flowers of the Smoky Mountains, Bloom! features the aerial antics of three, highly skilled and equally colorful performers. Drawing parallels with the world of humans, Bloom! explores themes of individuality, diversity, transformation, and community. 14 minutes in length and accompanied by Ania Reynold’s original soundtrack, Bloom! celebrates the natural world of the ephemeral.
Bloom! was commissioned by and premiered at Dollywood’s 2022 Flower & Food Festival. Since then, it has been presented by Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City festival; Purdue Convocations; Charlotte International Arts Festival; Columbia Festival of the Arts; Live Arts Miami; and the Des Moines Performing Arts Center, among others.
This one-of-a-kind company offers customized performances and set repertoire for every occasion – private parties, corporate gatherings, gala celebrations and special events – delighting your clients and audiences with magical performances atop 14 foot sway poles. See images found here at company’s website.
Bios
SWAY is a Melbourne-based performing arts company that designs, produces, and performs large-scale performances and site-specific installations fusing theater, dance, and circus using a unique combination of sway-pole apparatus and bespoke performance equipment. The company engages and collaborates with a diverse range of creatives, multi-disciplinary performers, and specialist production teams to create and perform accessible, highly visible performances in broad contexts across the world.
SWAY formed as a business partnership between Phillip Gleeson, (Creative Director of Strange Fruit for 12 years and independent maker) and Emily Ryan (Associate Director and performer at Strange Fruit for 16 years, independent circus maker and artist) in January 2021. While SWAY’s operative history is young, it brings with it a wealth of accumulated expertise and design knowledge to underpin its creative and production capacity. To-date, SWAY has created new performance work for: The Victorian Opera’s The Ring Cycle (AUS); Rainbow Family Cabaret, produced by Circus Oz and the Arts Centre Australia; Bloom! for Dollywood’s 2022 Flower & Food Festival (US); and Kaboom in Monbulk, Victoria (AUS).
The US-cast made its debut in 2013 with a four-week run as part of Dollywood’s International Festival in Pigeon Forge, TN. In 2013, the US cast was also presented at the VA Arts Festival (Norfolk); the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival presented by the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts (St. Paul); Out of the Box Festival (Boston), Discovery Green (Houston), and several private events.