Sûr tour.
Nouveau Sud Project – Sûr; community tour, Charlotte, NC | January 2018 – Present
We devised a touring version of our latest show to be in conversation with the sectors most affected by our subject matter, deportations and police brutality. We also performed a shorter version of this show at an ASC’s Culture Block event in the University City area. February 2018.
About sûr
In this project, we are particularly interested in the concept of being safe, as a social construct, what allows such state of being and what disrupts it. Being an ensemble primarily constituted by members of underrepresented communities at large, such concept truly has landed close to home particularly after some recent events such as the killing of Keith Lamont Scott and the subsequent turmoil where peaceful protests turned into uncontrolled riots, the most recent presidential election which has resulted in the return of mass racism, and the fallacy of cities being sanctuaries yet ICE raids happen with regularity.
Police brutality and the way the black community has been portrayed, further preserving the otherness disassociation, is something that truly must be addressed. Same deal with the recent anti-immigrant raids/blockades in the search of those illegal, has caused a level of fear within our Latino community without a clear path for a potential solution that would benefit all parts involved. Therefore, we feel called to action, as we seek a collective solution.
press
Creative Loafing: Urban Circus Project Examines Dangerous Living
By Pat Moran | July 19, 2017
"'Circus people are continuously searching for freedom,' says CarlosAlexis Cruz. 'It's a sense of weightlessness, a dream of flying — like Icarus.' The Physical Theatre Professor at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is discussing the tension between safety and liberation embodied by his Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatic troupe Nouveau Sud ("New South"). Their latest project, Sûr: An Acrobatic Journey in Search of Safety, goes up July 21 and 22 at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center's Booth Playhouse."
Charlotte Five: Tonight and tomorrow: A UNCC professor turns the immigrant experience into gravity-defying art
By Page Leggett | July 21, 2017
"As an aerialist, CarlosAlexis Cruz takes risks every day. But the simple fact that he’s a Latino living in America also puts him at risk. SUR is not an angry, defiant piece of art as it easily could be. Cruz doesn’t seem angry. He’s an intelligent, affable professor who wants to start a dialogue through art. 'I don’t know what the solution is,' he said. 'But we should seek it together.'”
Creative Loafing: Critic's Picks: Arts and Entertainment
Best of Charlotte 2017
Best Dance and Acrobatic Experience - 'Sûr: An Acrobatic Journey in Search of Safety'
Presented by CarlosAlexis Cruz's Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatic troupe Nouveau Sud ("New South"), Sûr: An Acrobatic Journey in Search of Safety pulled back the curtain on a city plagued by police brutality, the vilification of the black and immigrant communities, and the disturbing tendency to see our neighbors as "the other." Nouveau Sud's supple, athletic performance at the Booth Playhouse last July was an alarm, sounding the message that Charlotte may no longer be safe for all its citizens, and a declaration that it's time for us to stop living in fear. Sûr offered a solution — a plea that we should isten to each other. It was great dance performance, as well as a vital message delivered with grace, strength and the belief that motion and gesture could cross boundaries more readily than 1,000 words.
