American contemporary dance troupe Bandaloop are the pioneers of vertical dancing. In October they turned Budapest upside down with their intricate aerial choreography performed on the side of a high-rise office building. Soaring skywards with the help of guide ropes, they used the walls as a vertical stage and presented a brilliant mid-air dance performance, thrilling those gathered below at Kálvin tér. Now a 4K video has just been released, showing the highlights of the event and the preparations needed to make it happen.

BANDALOOP celebrate the human spirit, nature and communities through dance that uses climbing technology to expand and challenge what is possible. The dance ensemble was founded in 1991 by Amelia Rudolph, who gathered wall climbers and dancers looking for a new medium to experiment. The company since has performed for millions of people in more than 20 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. “They say what we do is death-defying. I’d say it’s life-affirming” – Amelia Rudolph.

In October 2017, the troupe visited the Hungarian capital for the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Art Festival. Managing director Thomas Cavanagh was attracted by several buildings, but in the end chose an office on busy, central Kálvin tér with an aim to involve passers-by who otherwise would never go to see a dance performance. The show proved to be an elegant, graceful success. These dancers displayed incredible strength and stamina as even watching their delightful dance performance was quite dizzying. But as Bandaloop work closely together with the Alpine technical team that secures them, the risks are much fewer. See this 4K video below, providing insight into the preparations, too.