Catapult Comes to Frostburg

On Tuesday October 2, 2018, Frostburg welcomed “CATAPULT The Amazing Magic of Shadow Dance” to perform in the Pealer Performing Arts Center. Catapult is a dance group of 8 dancers that can shape themselves to have the shadow of anything imaginable. In 2009, Adam Battelstein formed the group and in 2013, the group were finalists on Season 8 of “America’s Got Talent” allowing them to show their talents worldwide. The event was sold out and the audience was full of members from the community and kids ranging from elementary to college age making it an event that can entertain all.

The performance began near 7:30pm and the dancers launched in to creating ducks, frogs, caterpillars and dolphins to create a sense of spring and summer. Then, transferring into fall, there were pumpkins and a romantic couple and ending the seasonal theme with winter where snowflakes, Christmas trees, and cross country skiing were created all in shadow.

Throughout the whole seasonal experience, there was constant classical music to accompany the show and immerse the audience even further into the event.  

Then, there was a theme transition telling the audience the following theme would be Berlin. The screen immediately turned to be darker reds and the music became much more serious with a heavy march keeping the rhythm. The first scene created was that of soldiers marching with hands reaching at them from the sides to symbolize the separation of peoples because of the militarized Berlin Wall. 

However, the screen became bright red as those oppressed are suddenly fighting back and taking up arms against the soldiers to fight for their freedom. The soldiers are gunned down within the shadow scene and one could see the Berlin Wall being destroyed and those who were once constantly separated are now able to come together and rejoice. The theme ended with the symbol of anarchy being displayed and the audience all applauded in awe at the intensity of the performance.

The performance then transitioned to a milestones theme where you saw a couple going through the first date, engagement, marriage, children and old age, accomplishing all of the traditional milestones in someone’s life. It was heartwarming to see such a pure relationship unfold without all of the modern heartbreak and relationship tragedy. The milestones theme was accompanied by soft country music and was a very peaceful section of the performance.

The following theme was kiwi. There was pop music playing and very lively dancing being performed; the moves were all upbeat and frogs were being formed all over the stage, all seeming to look and watch the audience just as they were watching them.

Then, the final theme before a brief intermission was spy. This theme told the story of a female spy attempting to balance her super-secret life and her more normal life. She was propelled from a helicopter and had to find and fight off the enemy all in shadow with a crystal clear depiction. The level of detail within all of the themes and all the scenes within them can all be comprehended by a mere 5 year old and all form a truly engaging story for the audience to watch.

After the intermission, the show began with the dancers in front of the screen and their shadows were overlapping onto one another to create a huge rainbow of movement and art to wow their audience and begin once again with a bang! After the opening sequence, the first theme was “Bullies”. A girl was going to school, she walked out of her house onto the bus and into her school where there were many other students. All of those images the dancers created in shadow and then portrayed the girl being surrounded by other students pointing and laughing at her until a friend approached and helped her out. The girl seemed to dream of going on wild adventures through the jungle, underwater and into the Sahara Desert. She returned to school the next day brave as can be and no longer needed to worry about the bullies that surrounded her before.

The following theme was described as “Balls of Fun”. The dancers would be doing common activities when balls would bounce around onto the screen with the dancers avoiding them or passing them between one another. There was upbeat pop music playing and was a quick uplifting scene for the audience to enjoy. Next, CATAPULT had there audience “Go West” with country music beginning and an American flag used to transition into a scene of rocks and cacti to depict the wild wild west.

The dancers then took the audience into a saloon where two cowboys stood off and fired at one another just like in the movies. The dancers ended the theme with a creation of a buffalo, a steam engine, and a single cowboy riding off victoriously on a horse into the sunset.

The show was close to ending and had a calm ethereal theme of mermaid following the rambunctiousness of the western front. The image of a girl peacefully swimming and doing acrobatics underwater were displayed in shadow having fish and bubbles floating around her lulling the audience with the wonderful creations once again. The final theme of the night was “ A Traveler’s Tale” and the happy folk music began to accompany it. The story began with a girl leaving her home, suitcase in hand, to go to the airport and travel to Paris where she danced and ate by the Eiffel Tower. She flew to Egypt and took pictures in front of the sphinxes, then to Rome with the Colosseum and Japan where she met a hungry panda bear who enjoyed to be fed bamboo. She went to Bali where there was belly dancing and India to visit the Taj Mahal and the Goddess Ganesh. Finally, her travels ended with a rocket ship trip to the moon and a final flight back home where she rejoined with her family.

The CATAPULT performance is truly engaging and much fun to watch for all ages. It shows many important aspects of life and acknowledges the hardships as well. Through the whole 90 minute performance, the theme transitions were quick and engaging and the audience was completely immersed the entire time.  Walking out of the theatre, audience members exclaimed, “Amazingly amazing” from a young girl, a father said, “it was great, very good” and another audience member was “amazed at the energy they had”. The event also allowed for a local dance company the M.C.C.A from Mountain City Center for the Arts to have a meet and greet with the dancers where they were taught how to transform into a shadow frog. The girls exclaimed how they loved the show and had loved the “Spy” and “Berlin” themes especially. There chaperone commented on how they were very happy to be able to have the opportunity to engage with and watch such an inspirational and unique dancing performance.

Backstage the director of the group, Adam Battelstein discussed the creation of the show, “Magic Shadows”. He talked about how after America’s Got Talent all of their routines had been created and performed solely for that show. But, when they were offered a 2 month tour in Germany, they had very little time to create the 90 minute long show that had been performed that day. He noted how the show was created in nearly 7 to 8  weeks and then the next 3 years were used to fix and finalize the movements and themes within it to where he can see the final form of the show appearing. CATAPULT is launching a new show this summer that is 45 minutes long and took about 5 weeks to create. When asked about the dancers themselves, he said that they do have new dancers from time to time but the technique of shadow dance takes over a year to really learn and that some dancers can never create the desired technique. The performance on Tuesday included 3 fairly new dancers, but it would be impossible to pick them out. CATAPULT is a riveting show that will keep any audience member engaged throughout the whole performance. The talent and skill displayed is truly incredible and for those who missed the event there are some clips from their time on TV on YouTube where you can view some of the magic unfold.