After a top 10 finish on "America’s Got Talent," dance group DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion is coming to Bloomington.
DIAVOLO will perform dance and acrobatics on Sept. 26 at the IU Auditorium.
After witnessing complete strangers help each other out following an earthquake, artistic director Jacques Heim founded DIAVOLO in 1992.
The group has come to be known for “incorporating monstrous set pieces exploring the human body and its architectural environment,” according to the IU Auditorium press release.
“We’re known for the human condition,” rehearsal director Amy Tuley said. “We’re not just there to show off. We’re there to make you feel something.”
"LOST" stands for Losing One's Self Temporarily. It's in two parts, the first being “Cubicle” and the second “Passengers.”
“It's all about the corporate world and how one feels stuck in that cubicle-esque world and how we deal with it, how we deal with each other,” Connor Senning, associate and rehearsal director, said. "‘Passengers" is a little more about the journey of life.”
In each performance, the dancers move on and interact with a large revolving set piece. “Cubicles” uses 30 55-pound cubes that the group arranges in different formations and structures. “Passengers” involves a giant staircase that later turns into a train.
“This is a different breed of dance," Senning said. “You’re going to see a mixture of acrobatics and trained, modern dance mixed with pedestrian-esque movement.”
DIAVOLO’s top 10 finish on "America’s Got Talent" aired on Sept. 20, 2017. The group auditioned in March and practiced for the next six months, Senning said. On the show, the group performed one of the routines they will perform Tuesday night.
“We were not expecting to go as far as we did,” Senning said. “We got to go to the finale and did a bunch of amazing performances for a lot of really great artists.”
When the group was preparing for "America’s Got Talent," they trained 12 hours a day, seven days a week and worked on other productions during the same time. It’s all possible because the dancers love it and give it their whole heart, Tuley said.
“It’s really remarkable what these dancers do night after night,” Tuley said. “Audience members can only get that by seeing it live. The videos don’t do it justice.”
DIAVOLO previously performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has also traveled across the world. It premiered its trilogy of performances, “Foreign Bodies,” “Fearful Symmetries” and “Fluid Infinities” in Germany in 2014.
"We’re not just there to show off,” Tuley said. “We’re there to make you feel something. We do our best to be present in the moment and make it real for us, so audiences all over the world can relate and be affected.”
The group aims to keep things as relatable as possible, Senning said. It tries not to stray too far from the truths of what life brings us.
“If we can connect with one person who is new to dance or looking for something in life, maybe an answer to something, I think that’s enough for us,” Senning said.
DIAVOLO performs Sept. 26. Tickets start at $13 for students and $18 for non-students.
