Fringe Festival: Brian Sanders’ JUNK, ‘Suspended’

I had the good fortune of coming across a show that epitomizes everything that a Fringe show should be: audacious, outside the mainstream, but oozing talent. The talent comes from an avant-garde performance art/dance troupe called Brian Sanders’ JUNK. The show is called Suspended. The venue is a church in South Philly. The result is one of the most thrilling, engrossing, pretentious, and sheer fun show I’ve experienced in quite some time.

This was my first exposure, so to speak, to Brian Sanders’ JUNK. I showed up at the venue early, having arranged with Mr. Sanders to attend an optional portion of the show called the Locker Room Pre-show. The line was down the block, but not everyone was there for the pre-show. Those of us attending the pre-show were made to wait before being ushered into a darkened side room lit only by some candles and a couple of dim lights. Amidst the carefully crafted shadows we could perceive three male figures, all nude and all stunningly beautiful. For the next 15 minutes, we were treated to highly stylized choreography reminiscent of locker room horseplay. Needless to say, the three nude buff bodies made for fascinating visuals when combined with sinuous choreography.

We were eventually led into the main performance space, which was made up to look something like an arena. Our three inaugural performers jumped up on the elevated center stage, having donned sheer shorts fitted with buckled belts. They were joined by three female performers clad in bikinilike versions of the sheer shorts. As a sort of silent MC, another man in a long white robe wandered about the stage.

Impressive physicality

For the next 40 minutes or so, we were treated to a variety of set pieces that ran the gamut from classic performance art to aerial choreography reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil. There were aspects of the show that were funny, pretentious, bombastic, sexy, and — with regard to the aerial pieces — downright thrilling.

If I interpret the rather convoluted credits for the show correctly, the various pieces were devised by the company as a whole, under Sanders’s supervision — in which case, my compliments to the entire ensemble for its strong showing of creativity. The entire company is impressive physically, in the strength and grace of their moves, as well as for the simple fact that they look fabulous without clothes.

The stage included an impressive array of rigging of the sort one sees at concerts and wrestling matches. It was understandably more impressive to see the level of athleticism with which the performers navigated said rigging. The accompanying music was delightfully indefinable as well.

I went into Suspended not knowing what to expect; I left thrilled and excited by what I had seen. That should be what a Fringe show is all about. If this show is any indication, it’s easy to understand why FringeArts has grown exponentially with every successive September.