Performance Art Review: My Night at the Slipper Room

Ahhhh . . . The grittiness of the New York City’s Lower East Side, ya gotta love it. I’m at the Slipper Room checking out their Wednesday evening’s side show for lounge laggards and work-night drunkards and find myself thoroughly entertained by the hand-balancing act of one of the regular fixtures of downtown’s late night “performance art” scene, Monsieur Rudi Macaggi, the Acromedian.

On a seemingly twelve foot stage and rag (curtain) decorated in jewel tones and Middle Eastern motif, Macaggi pops onstage in a pillow-stuffed suit looking like a Teletubby imitating Luciano Pavorati and lip-synchs to one of Luci’s operatic hits. Nearly losing his stuffed “stomach,” Macaggi performs a high-energy series of high kicks a la seconde -right, left, right, left, right, left - and, on top of that, proceeds to do herky jumps, Russians, back-hand springs, and forward flips. Whew! You would think that he would be tired after that opening, but nooooooooo; he has more…

Macaggi strips down to himself, begins to interact with the audience, and throws energy to his funky little trio of musicians that sit at the foot of stage right. With a black eyeliner-drawn face and a tight goth-styled shirt and pant ensemble, at this point, Macaggi resembles the MC (Joel Grey) of Cabaret. As I watch his acrobatic side show, I quickly take note of his signature move, the one-armed hand stand! He finds all kinds of ways to get into this move; he hops on it, balances on basketballs with it, makes DUI jokes about it, he even does a standing back flip and actually lands the thing on one-hand. Impressive!

One of his most remarkable balances in his act is his basketball shtick in which he dribbles the ball and performs his signature one-armed handstand. He then proceeds to climb to the top of a stool, props his head on the b-ball and balances upside down, legs in the air … with NO HANDS! What? What? This boy must have a neck of steel. Simply amazing.

By far the most artistically satisfying piece for my eyes is the puppeteer section in which he performs a hand-balancing act with ballet dancer and circus art/contortion performer, Lea McGowan. Dressed like a rag doll in pretty pink pointe shoes, an ecru baby doll dress, and red-circled cheeks (a la the toy soldiers of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular), Ms. McGowan delicately bourrées to meet her puppeteer. An amazing hand-balancing act unfolds in a well-paced, well choreographed piece. Holding Macaggi off the ground, Ms. McGowan performs with extraordinary strength; even more extraordinary are her stomach muscles that she engages to keep Macaggi from hitting the floor! I love how she incorporates her super flexible legs and ultra flexible back in grande port de bra within the movements used to move along the story vignette; even more than that, I appreciate how she stays in character from being to end. Bravo!

After this piece, Macaggi engages us in more riveting entertainment. With great comic timing through one-liners, story-telling, and thrilling antics, Macaggi shows that he is an all around, well-seasoned show man. He performs a tap routine with an acrobatic flip and then proceeds to perform with taps on his hands in his signature hand-balancing move. Who knew? I personally have never seen a tapper tap on his hands in a handstand before. That’s hot; however, in Macaggi’s case, I think that his tapping sound technique is more clear when he taps upside down rather than when he is right side up. ;)

Next on the program, Macaggi swallows an ENTIRE six foot clown balloon down his throat. With great comic timing of a true vaudevillian showman, he announces, “The balloon will not be returning tonight,” (comic pause) … “It will come back tomorrow.” After that stunt, he plops some homemade contraption on his head looking like some sort of mad scientist, blows kazoos, and goes for his one-armed handstand signature move again. I’m sitting there watching this skit and wondering the whole time, “OMG… Aren’t you constipated? You just swallowed a whole balloon for goodness sakes!”

Anywho, Macaggi’s act makes the audience reel with laughter, amazement, and of course shock and awe. With such great showmanship, who needs to watch America’s Got Talent on TV when you can see Rudi Macaggi’s one man talent show live and in the flesh!

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Candice Rox
Performance: Rudi Macaggi with Lea McGowan (Guest Artist)
Venue: The Slipper Room, New York City
Show Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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