Pool Without Water
2021 · 8m · Russia
Directed by Nikolay Zheludovich
Genres: experimental
Tones: surreal, theatrical
Five Moscow-based acrobats perform a new dance work choreographed by Los Angeles-based Mike Tyus.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone expects Moscow acrobats to stay in Moscow, doing acrobat things—so naturally Zheludovich ships them to collaborate with a choreographer from LA and calls it dance. It's perverse in the best way, and the fact that it *works* means the experimental premise has actual teeth.
What makes this remarkable is the formal rigor with which it negotiates the collision between athletic body language and choreographic intention—there's a clear lineage from Constructivist performance through contemporary dance theater, and Zheludovich stakes his territory with precision and restraint.
The single choice that reframes everything: treating the acrobats' technical virtuosity not as spectacle but as raw material for Tyus's movement vocabulary—that decision to *constrain* rather than amplify what these bodies can do creates genuine tension and makes the 8 minutes feel earned.
Reviews
Five Moscow-based acrobats perform a new work choreographed by Los Angeles-based Mike Tyus, in "Pool Without Water", directed by Nikolay Zheludovich and featuring original music by Zurkas Tepla.