Daring acrobatics. Avant garde and unconventional art. A game show run by children. These are all things that can be found at the Without Walls Festival, or the WOW Festival. The WOW festival is an art festival that takes place on the UCSD campus annually. It is hosted by the La Jolla Playhouse, and this year it ran from April 24th to April 27th. Many varieties of performances and exhibitions can be found at the WOW festival, many that are bold and aim to push the boundaries of art. I live very close to UCSD, so I had the opportunity to attend the festival. I watched several shows (all free), and I enjoyed them all. They were quite different from each other, but they all utilized art in a creative way to tell a story. 

The first show that I watched was a reimagining of Stravinsky’s Firebird at the Epstein Family Theater, created by the Dutch musical group Touki Delphine.The Firebird is a ballet that was written by Igor Stravinsky in 1919. For this show, there was no orchestra or ballet dancers, but instead a large panel covered in brake lights that hung from the roof of the theater. Music played from speakers, and the brake lights on the panel were programmed to flash in patterns with the music. Stravinsky had synesthesia, so I thought that this interpretation of the Firebird was fitting. The music was not only orchestral, it was also a mix of electronic music. Parts from the ballet would play that would smoothly shift into an electronic sound, melding modern and classical music in a unique way. However, at times it seemed the show was lacking. The audience did not really seem into it, and many people left during the duration of the show. Despite its lack of energy, this show was a good example of the thoughtful art that the WOW festival provides. 

I also had the chance to watch an acrobatics show. This show was outdoors, and the performers performed on a school bus. Created by the Canadian group FLIP Fabrique, the goal of this performance was to evoke the feeling of a youth summer camp, and it did. The performers creatively used trampolines and the school bus to create the dreamy and fleeting feeling of attending summer camps as a child. There was no part of the bus that was not used as a stage. Actors performed stunts on top of the bus, and even used a canoe that they deftly moved around the set. At one point, the actors rushed through the audience with water guns and blasted a nearby dog with water. The 30 minute show moved at a fast pace that never lost momentum, much like a summer camp. This performance was a fun and engaging experience that never lost my attention. 

I also attended the WOW festival last year, and there many equally interesting shows. I was impressed with the performances that I saw this year. Whenever the festival happens next, I will definitely be going again.