Just swingin'
A troupe of dancers-come-acrobats-come-action-heroes (and you might just think they're crazy too!) from Brooklyn performed daredevil stunts across seven iconic landmarks in "one extraordinary day" in London yesterday.
As part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, a group led by Elizabeth Streb, surprised Londoners and visitors with the spectacular feats. The group only announced that the action would be taking place the night before… still keeping a tight lid on exactly where and when the stunts would be performed. If you had one of those fancy phones that have WiFi and were following the group on Twitter or Facebook around London, you would have been able to catch them live. If you didn't, you might have just been a little bit frustrated at not being able to follow all the action so easily - or just been surprised by a group of people all clad out in red spandex suits turning up wow the audience they had.
I'd got up early for breakfast with a friend in London - and I mean at breakfast time… I've often met up with friends for breakfast or brunch on a Sunday but that usually means midday at the earliest! Anyway, it turned out to be great as with dry days in London being such a rarity, it was lovely to be out ad about enjoying one. And with my friend having one of those fancy phones, we managed to catch them do 'The Turn' at Paternoster Square with St Paul's Cathedral as their backdrop.
The Turn
A stunt lasting around 20 minutes, it was pretty impressive watching them swing, twist and turn whilst the wheel turned too. Especially impressive were the smiles on some of the dancers faces throughout. I wouldn't have lasted 20 seconds without wanting to throw up so as much as I love the idea of being able to do amazing things just like this, I think my propensity for vomiting from dizzyness and likelyhood of knocking myself out, would make it a very bad idea. Best left to the professionals!
The biggest wow of the day has probably got to be for the finale which took place on the London Eye with dancers performing stunts along the spokes of the wheel. Sadly, I didn't make it but you can see photos and short videos of events from the day on the Surprises Streb website and Facebook page.
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