Kevin Gibbs Contorting Boundaries
Dancers go for the flawless line and, once there, strive to extend it a fraction - maybe even more than a fraction. Kevin Gibbs, featured in ANOTHER SIDE OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL's "Zumanity" in Las Vegas, often stretches well beyond the "perfect" point and then works backward, reining it in to more traditional lines.
Even as a kid, Kevin always wanted to be a contortionist. "I took gymnastic classes. I saw the circus. I saw contortionists and I was very intrigued by what they were doing and how it was beautiful but still kind of creepy and weird, and I like that it kind of confuses you but you're drawn to it. You know, kind of a morbid curiosity but it's still beautiful."
His parents, of course, never imagined he was serious. "They just thought I was being silly. Little did they know that I would follow up on it...Three years into college and a journalism major, I chose to dance and did four more years in dance and worked and worked and worked because I didn't know the vocabulary."
He went on to get a BFA from the University of Nebraska and then headed off to New York City for more education. "I went to graduate school at New York University, at Tisch School of the Arts for Dance as well. I got into that right after college."
"I later joined MOMIX, like right after graduate school, and about two years after being with MOMIX, I felt that it was time for me to move on. I was on tour in Spain and I asked my dad, I said, 'I'm doing some amazing work, some of the most brilliant dancing and I'd like for you to come see me.'"
His father had never particularly supported his decision to dance, but Kevin thought it was time for him to see the hard-earned result. "He came, he saw me dance and was speechless. He didn't realize what I did and how good I was and so after that, he's kind of been one of my biggest fans."
Unbeknownst to Kevin, another fan was Cirque du Soleil. "They had a specific role in mind. They knew who I was and they knew what I had done and so they were confident in my ability to do what they needed. As a dancer, my strength is a combination of technique, facility, acrobatic work and artistry and combining them all together."
"My dream as a kid was contortion and acrobatics, as well as dance. I found this passion for dance. And Cirque du Soleil was a way to incorporate all of those things together and to bring credible dance to Cirque du Soleil."
"My flexibility is good and I think it's a difficult thing to rein that in and use it with good technique. A lot of dancers who are really flexible or have great facility get away with not having the best technique. They appear brilliant and they've got this 'wow' factor but then are they dancers who end up injured a lot or once something happens, they don't have that facility, they don't have the rest of the dance education or technique to rehabilitate themselves and do something else."
"I think it's great for people to have jobs in dance and do what they love but it doesn't last if you don't have what it takes to back it up... A lot of dancers complain about not getting jobs, but they're not auditioning for jobs that they're appropriate for or that they know how to do, I think. Awareness of who you are as a dancer and capitalizing on some of those things, rather than, 'I'm 5'2" and a male dancer and I want to do Fosse and I'm a little overweight.' You know, that might not work for you." Kevin, on the other hand, had trained well and knew his strengths and weaknesses.
The old saying in music is that you can't play the symphony without first learning to do scales. The same principle is true of dance. You can contort the boundaries but if you want a long career, you must first know the parameters. And then, as Kevin said, "The quality of the movement gives depth to the shape, depth and meaning to the shapes. I mean, you can learn to do counterbalance poses and stand on your head, stand on somebody else's head, hold your leg up behind your head, but it's just a trick if you don't have the artistry behind it, and that's where the movement and the knowledge and the awareness of every sinew, of every muscle in your body, that's what makes it art." And that's when you can confidently play with the boundaries.