La Ronde made its international premiere at Adelaide Fringe 2025 last night. With a truly international cast, many of whom have not performed in Australia before, and feats you have never seen on Australian stages, La Ronde was a night of firsts.
Belarussian Polina Karvovskaya hangs from the dizzying heights of the Spiegeltent roof, by her hair! It both made our heads sore thinking about it, and made us wonder how she doesn’t get dizzy when she’s spinning faster and faster – something she actually holds the world record for – not the dizziness but the number of spins in 30 seconds: 68. Her act is mesmerising and performed to a cover of It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World and it’s a slow, seductive, sexy act to set the mood for the rest of La Ronde. Polina performed in Cannes last year.
Think hanging from your hair is impressive? Each act that follows Polina also has their own unique, mind-blowing take on aerial circus. How about hanging from your mouth? Felipe Reyes from Colombia, who had some very enthusiastic fans seated behind us, is one of a very small group in the world to perform this act. He stunned in his large plumage (costume designed by Korri Aulakh and wings designed by Bambi Blue) as he soared to the heights of the Spiegeltent and writhed around to make sure that each part of the audience could get a good view. It was easy to be hypnotised by the movement and beauty of his winged costume and forget that he was actually being held up there just by his mouth. An impressive performer, Felipe also returns to the stage for another numéro in the show, his hand balancing act where he shows off his core strength as he holds himself up while balanced on with just a single hand as his grounding point.
Or how about swinging through the air balancing on your head? Adam Malone is the only Australian in La Ronde’s very international cast. We get to see him perform two acts in La Ronde, hoops and most impressively the very rare Washington Trapeze. It is a horizontal pole with a tiny cushion on which to place your head while you perform upside down with the head being the only part of the body on this trapeze. Think headstands while suspended in the air. Of course, Adam doesn’t just spend his act in a headstand on a swing – he uses the apparatus to its full ability combining more traditional aerial techniques and using other body parts to hold himself up. All the while wearing vertiginous heels and removing his clothes.
And talking of removing clothes, there are plenty of perfect butt cheeks on show at various points throughout La Ronde. However, unlike many of the other variety, circus shows though there was no burlesque in this one. Rather, La Ronde truly is a focus on the crème de la crème of aerial artistry from around the world and in that sense renders it unique.
Stunning Ukranian born, German-based blonde bombshell, Diana Bondarenko flies through the air on her bespoke pyramid-trapeze. Elegantly suspended at times by as little as the tops of her ankles, Diana shows a mastery of her art hanging, swinging and balancing simultaneously showcasing her impressive strength while maintaining gracefulness. In comparison with the other artists, Diana’s act seemed more traditional, albeit very impressive, while using a different apparatus.
Sergit Mischchurenko from Ukraine brings his aerial pole act combining dance and pole dance techniques. The act allows him to make full use of the stage as the pole swings out close to the audience. Doing aerial pole requires a different skillset and allows him to do things he would not be able to do on a more traditional aerial hoop. Similarly, aerial pole must require an advanced ability to understand the centre of gravity and extra strong core because of the way the pole swings. All of the performers in La Ronde excel at their craft making it look easy though of course as lay audience members we know it is not.
Half Jamaican, half German, UK born, Spain based Gigi provides the live music between acts. She’s a European cabaret star and invigorates the audience with her contagious energy and velvety vocals. That said, talented and captivating as Gigi is, she performed three songs in the show, when many of the other acts only got two numbers at most. We suspect the extra song may be due to the late cancellation of a cast member due to injury and expect it may change as the cast does over time. Perhaps Gigi could perform one of her three songs while another performer does their act, much like how in Strut & Fret’s other shows like Limbo: The Return, the band is an integral part of the show but rarely the centre point.
Sam Goodburn from the UK plays a fun recurring character throughout La Ronde. With a nod to Where’s Wally, this white beanie with pom pom, thick black glasses wearing character made the audience giggle like children whenever he was on. He gets the audience involved and last night’s willing participants were wonderful: good, and funny. Each time he was on, he did something different leading us to wonder what he would do next whenever we saw him reappear. Sam was truly a delight to watch and a delightful way to break up the other acts.
La Ronde is a wonderful show highlighting the crème de la crème of the rarer international aerial acts. If you can think of a different way to be suspended in the air, you’ll likely find a cast member in La Ronde doing it! If you’re into seeing the lesser seen circus feats performed by an incredibly skilful and sexy cast, go see La Ronde this Adelaide Fringe!
4 CROISSANTS