Some members from the Gasteni Theatre expressed their frustration at not being able to have any creative input in their group’s performances.
”We devised a method that allowed collaboration between disabled and non-disabled artists, which valued everybody’s ideas. Our collaboration was open-ended. We spent time singing, dancing, drawing, talking and playing. When we found common ground, we built on it. We put our ideas into practice. Other people were curious and joined us. We developed a collaborative performance for film, which we named Elastic Fantastic.”
Elastic Fantastic was filmed in two parts by filmmaker Claire Griffiths and edited by Magda Pata. The first part shows the performers playing a game from their childhood that involved jumping between and over elastic ropes to a set routine.
The second part of the film discards the rules and sees the performers creating a web of elastic ropes, tangled, tensed and ready to snap – a metaphor for the general attitude towards disability in Romania. The performers explore ways to release the tension or navigate through the web – all with curiosity, ingenuity and wit.
The performance inhabits an in-between space: between childhood and adulthood, play and performance, life and arts, disability and ability.
“We tangled all the elastics - The elastics tangled all of us.” – Alimavis (performer)
“I don’t recognise any of these people, even though I work with them every day!” - Vali Racila (Gasteni Theatre Artistic Director)
“Show the film where you want. Then maybe people will start seeing us.” - Gianina (performer)
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