Ever since writer Malcolm Gladwell popularized in 2008 the idea of the “10,000-Hour Rule,” the mastery that comes only after years of rigorous practice, it has been used to explain everyone from chess grandmasters to Bill Gates to the Beatles. Now the Australian circus troupe Gravity and Other Myths has borrowed the phrase for its latest gravity-defying visit to Spoleto Festival USA.
“Ten Thousand Hours,” which opens June 4 at Festival Hall, illustrates what the human body can — eventually — be capable of. The 10 company members throw and catch one another, use their partners’ bodies as springboards and perform insane feats of strength while balancing members on their heads. And that’s just the beginning.
“We start with a seed of an idea,” said “Ten Thousand Hours” director and Gravity and Other Myths cofounder Lachlan Binns. “In this case it’s this quote from Malcom Gladwell, which was kind of quite relevant to acrobatics. It’s hours and hours and weeks and weeks and years and years that have led up to this moment.”
This is partially what the acrobats want to honor and celebrate in this show: the hard work, dedication, personality and drive that every member brings to each performance.
“The trick that you see in the show is kind of the tip of the iceberg,” Binns said. “There’s a huge amount of preparation that goes into it from the most basic steps all the way through to finally seeing that polished end result on stage. The story behind the trick is almost always more interesting.”
The payoff of putting in the time
Lachlan Harper, a tour manager and an acrobat, agreed with this assessment.
“We do things pretty collaboratively, so everyone that’s in the show has an ownership over the hard work we put in,” Harper said.
This marks the troupe’s fourth trip to Spoleto. “We love the festival,” Binns said. “It’s a beautiful part of the states, and we’ve got a great relationship with the festival. They like our work, and we like the Spoleto audiences.”
This enthusiasm seems to be a staple for the group. There is no shortage of excitement when it comes to talking about these things they love. Whether it’s getting to travel to new places, returning to old ones or even the long process of creating a show, they exude nothing but positivity.
While everyone gets a hand in creating the show, Binns’s role is crucial. As the director, he is the “eyes on the outside” who can see what it looks like and give notes.
“He could see what we were doing,” Harper said, “because internally it’s so hard with 10 of us just moving around.”
Binns laughed at this: “I’m more of a guide, less of a dictator, you know?”
Beats and bonds hold it all together
Gravity and Other Myths started in 2009 with what Binns called “a group of like-minded friends” putting on shows in a very collaborative manner. So even as things grew and they took on new members, they tried to maintain this process.
“Obviously, with size, things have had to change a little bit, and there is some hierarchy,” Binns said. “But for the most part, especially creatively, it’s very collaborative and ensemble-driven.”
While the physical stunts and tricks are the main focus of the show, music also plays a key role. “Ten Thousand Hours” composer Nick Martyn has worked with the company on multiple different shows, which allowed him to know exactly what to do on this piece. He will accompany the prerecorded soundtrack with drums and other percussion instruments on stage.
“We love the kind of loud, brash, exciting energy that drums bring,” Binns said. “They’ve got a bit of a punch, and we think that kind of matches the Australian personality, and all our personalities on stage.”
Part of the point of this show is to explain what they have overcome to get here and the work they have put in, yet this is by no means a “serious show.”
“We want to be clear that we don’t want to make it too serious,” Binns said. “The reason we keep coming back is because we’ve got this group of mates on stage and we love hanging out and we love training and we love playing together. So whatever problem is thrown your way, it’s kind of a no-brainer. You work through it and you come back.”
Harper’s experience from 2018 is a perfect example. “I broke my back and had to leave tour,” he said. “As soon as it happens, you know that that’s the thing you really love.”
And while “Ten Thousand Hours” is a lot of fun, Binns said, there is a smaller but no less important element to be taken from the show as well.
“We’d hope that the audience that comes to see the shows get inspired,” he said, “not just to do acrobatics but to pick up that thing they wanted to do a couple of years ago but they’ve kind of let it slip a little bit. No matter what age, they’re inspired to keep doing the thing that is maybe a bit difficult but gives them a lot of joy.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: “Ten Thousand Hours” will take place June 4-8 at Festival Hall, 56 Beaufain St. Tickets are $54 to $99.
Madey Lynch is is an arts journalism graduate student at Syracuse University.
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