Breakout - The Extreme Dance Performance

This is a follow-up of a previous blog entry:
Breakout - Extreme Dance Comedy.

Finally, I got to watch this performance at the Esplanade Theatre. First, let me talk a bit about the theatre. It has a seating capacity of 2000, sounds small, but yet, the seats are a bit too crammed. The feet of the person behind you are too close to your head for comfort. The leg room must be specifically designed for old-time Asians who tend to be shorter in height, and have short legs. I can't imagine how a leggy western model can squeeze into that small little space.

The theatre also has many doors, but many doors also converge into one door for exit, and one staircase. What is their evacuation plan? Mmmhh....

Ok, back to the main topic, the Breakout! Yes, the performance lasts about 80 mins, the fun-filled 80 mins. It seamlessly integrates break dance, hip-hop and stage play together into a comedy appealing to people of all ages. (By the way, yesterday audiences include from school kids to old grandmothers.) They also have good interaction with the audience, not just leaving the audience watching but no participation.

Stage lighting, music, and transitions from one scene to another are done smoothly. As the performance has very few verbal conservations, the message is mainly communicated to the audience through facial expressions and body language, which the performers did a very good job. They did it naturally, they did it in such a way that you forget you are actually watching a performance.

I highly recommend this performance. My rating is 4.9/5, the 0.1 is because everything has room for improvement :)

My only regret is I didn't get my ticket earlier and get a better seat, a seat closer to the stage. I was sitting in Circle 3, which is on level 4 of the theatre, too high up there.

Below is an excerpt from the Esplanade Diary about Breakout:

BREAKOUT is a new concept b-boy show created by Yegam and Sevensense Inc of (South) Korea. Established in 2003 and based in Seoul, Korea, Yegam and Sevensense Inc was one of the first production companies to specialise in comic martial arts performance in Asia, designed to appeal to people of all ages and international cultures.