Bandaloop In Photos: Dancing On The Ceiling And Walls In Breckenridge Looks ‘Terrifying And Thrilling’

By Stephanie Wolf
August 22, 2019
190822 BANDALOOP190822 BANDALOOPSteph Wolf/CPR News
The artists of Oakland-based BANDALOOP perform on the stage, in the air and along the sides of Breckenridge’s Riverwalk Center.

Last weekend, I went to Summit County for the fifth annual Breckenridge International Festival of Arts.

I have to admit that part of what drew me up there was to see the return of the town’s trail troll, Isak Heartstone. But I also had the chance to experience and photograph BANDALOOP during the Oakland-based dance company’s Saturday performances at the Riverwalk Center.

BANDALOOP is known for its vertical dances on the sides of skyscrapers and mountains, as well as from famous sites such as Seattle’s Space Needle. As a former dancer, I can say the idea of dancing on a mountainside seems both terrifying and thrilling.

190822 BANDALOOPSteph Wolf/CPR News
The artists of Oakland-based BANDALOOP. It was really fun having the artists in the actual Riverwalk Center space, dancing on the ground, in the air and along the sides of the venue. In fact, we were instructed not to leave our seats during the show for our own safety and the safety of the dancers since they would be moving around various parts of the venue.
190822 BANDALOOPSteph Wolf/CPR News
Two dancers suspended from the ceiling performed a duet that had a definite tango flair to it — a favorite of the woman sitting next to me, who told me this was her third time seeing the dance company that weekend.
190822 BANDALOOPSteph Wolf/CPR News
A quartet of dancers, two in harnesses and two without any apparatus, made for some really interesting photographic moments. Here's one half of that quartet.
190822 BANDALOOPSteph Wolf/CPR News
A dancer performed a solo that played with the illusion of him balancing on a single finger, his body parallel to the floor.
190822 BANDALOOPSteph Wolf/CPR News
I had to shift my gaze to the right of the venue for the final work. We watched about a handful of dancers scale the facility’s orchestra shells for this closing act, which also featured a dancer soaring above the heads of us in the audience.

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