Rotorua bus driver Graeme Hawker has spent more than twenty years monitoring passengers – mostly school children – from his rearview mirror.
Playing his part in Java Dance Company's production, Back of the Bus, this time Hawker only has to drive, never mind the monkey shenanigans four of his passengers
perform.
They stumble gracefully, whirl in the aisle, perform acrobatics from the bars and make the rest of the passengers – the ticketed audience – itchy to do the same.
Hawker maintains his Mercedes is the only bus in town with bars beside the seats, perfect for the job. It is a vehicle with character, one audience member noted. The bus's acting skills are in evidence when a wheel rides up the curb as it stops for a passenger, foreshadowing the disarray to come.
Dancer and producer Sacha Copland boards and becomes the person who drops their stuff, as everyone watches paper slip under seats, coins fall in the floor cracks and ultimately a puffy bag of chips find its way under feet.
The dramatization of bus passenger perils continues, with more than a dash of sultry backed up by French music. The dancers use their bodies to convey emotions, from anxiety to cell phone exhibitionism.
The site-specific theatrical dance makes the experience of the familiar - neighborhoods moving past out the windows - unusual. Three times the bus stops and all the passengers follow the dancers to a different stage where their physical art plays out.
Finally Hawker lets everyone out downtown where mocktails are served. The wild ride becomes a thing of the past, but not soon forgotten.
