The baldufas (spinning tops) are the protagonists of Poi, the play by the Mallorcan Guillem Vizcaíno (Cia D’es Tro) that has toured almost all of Spain, part of France, Portugal and Italy. The inquer, who started out in the circus arts as a self-taught circus performer at the age of 14, reclaims the roots through the game of the spinning top.
“I started with spinning tops because of a shoulder injury. I was given one as a present and I started to investigate”, recalls Vizcaíno. Then came the idea of Poi in May 2019 and, after the pandemic, during which he was proclaimed world champion in traditional spinning tops, resulted in a 50-minute performance. “I came up with the local thing and the defence of our traditions. I thought I would do a very local format, for Mallorca, but in the end it has hardly been seen on the island. At first it pained me to take it abroad, it seemed strange to me that a traditional Mallorcan tune should be played in another place”. Today his show has run for 220 performances, eight of them in Mallorca.
Foto: Mai Ibargüen.
“On the island sometimes they don’t call you because of misinformation. In the town halls there is a lack of field work, of attending fairs”, laments Vizcaíno. Something that happened at the preview of Poi in Madrid. “Programmers came from Spain and even from France. At the end, people stood up and applauded. I didn’t understand anything, being alone you don’t have perspective. Then I managed to fully understand the dramaturgical journey I had created”.
Loss of identity
A journey whose background advocates a return to simplicity. “Before, the physical and the imagination were used more. Now there is a disconnection in favour of a new connection to the virtual world. We are at a very fragile moment in terms of loss of identity. The only culture is that of the Internet and what has been taught all our lives has been lost”.
Foto: Susana Chico.
Through the spinning top, “the generations come together because they all know the game, both the 4 year old and the 80 year old. It is universal and in Poi the character takes the audience to an imaginary in which everyone understands their own message. I have opened a great path and I want to evolve, to know where I’m going as a circus artist. What I do will be something real, that I feel at that moment”, he concludes.
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