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FLOW Live Review

FLOW Live Review | July 25, 2015 | Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

by • August 14, 2015

Every great show or concert I’ve been to has one thing in common: connection. Hundreds of people singing the same lyrics, everyone dancing to the same beat, feeling like you’re part of what’s happening on stage instead of just being a spectator; that is what makes a show more than just a performance. It makes it an experience. This is exactly what RavĂ© Mehta’s FLOW achieved when the sold-out show debuted at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on July 25, 2015. The creators and performers of FLOW generated a sense of oneness with such ease that traditional boundaries between the stage and the audience simply melted away.

The show opened with a number of attention-grabbers. At the very start, with the lights still dim and the curtains still drawn, a mysterious, velvety hum echoed throughout the room. The curtains opened to reveal RavĂ©, highlighted by one single spotlight, playing a crystal bowl whose impressionable C note resonated across the theatre. The tone produced from a crystal bowl like this is much like one you would hear by rubbing your finger around the top of a wine glass, only 1,000 times more powerful. The C note stimulates the root chakra, and an open and flowing root chakra is what gives you a sense of grounding and stability. It is incredibly compelling. “Okay. Let’s get centered,” I thought.

As the low drone-like hum faded into the darkness, RavĂ© stepped forward into the light. “Before we start, I want to first create a connection between us. I want you to do three things for me.” It was then that RavĂ© encouraged us to raise our vibration by taking a deep breath together, checking our expectations at the door, and chanting one collective ‘Om’ together. As the giant unified ‘Om’ swelled across the theatre, I could feel the intense vibration permeate through my entire body. I can only imagine how RavĂ© felt standing on the edge of the stage as he was hit by this incredible tsunami sound wave emanating from the audience.

Ravé went on to explain that this performance of music and movement would be bound by our hearts and our breath, making this a moving meditation just as our own yoga practice would be. Ravé and his team created FLOW to inspire others to tap into their own state of flow.

When we are in ‘flow’, we essentially become superhuman. Actually, we become the humans we were originally designed to be.”

I was absolutely delighted when the concept of flow was further introduced in the show with a short video created by Jason Silva. Jason is the host of the show “Brain Games” on National Geographic channel and is one of my favorite modern philosophers known for examining radical ideas and current events. I started following him in 2008 when he co-hosted a program on Al Gore’s television network Current TV. I encourage you to check out Jason’s YouTube Channel, called Shots of Awe. Take a look at “Find Your Creative Flow State,” one of two videos used in FLOW sharing the concept that “Happiness is absorption” and just try not to get a million goosebumps.

In the following act, we found RavĂ© seated at his piano. Fog traipsed in over the stage and whispers came from the audience. Note by captivating note, RavĂ© quieted the crowd, bringing  their attention directly to his fingertips. Enter yoga dancer and choreographer Kristen Schneider. If you’re lucky enough to know Kristen personally, you are well aware of the bright light she brings to every room she enters. Here, atop Ravé’s piano, Kristen exhibited the most stunning display of yoga asana I have ever seen. This was not just a performance; it was an exposed view of her personal practice – her state of flow. Later in this opening act, adorned in a gorgeous, traditional Indian gown, singer Radha Mehta also made her first of several appearances on stage and charmed the crowd with her stunning vocal performance.

Flow Live Review

Over the next 75 minutes, a variety of scenes and costume changes occurred, each one different from the other. The only constant was RavĂ© and his piano composition, but even that changed in sound given the nature of the scene. I didn’t realize this at first, but Ravé’s piano music was 100%  improvised during several of the performances, including the acro yoga performance by Tala Neudigate and Michael Mott. This performance was full of trust, grace, and incredible strength, and Ravé’s melodies were just as intense and impressive as the relationship between the acro yogis performing. The woman sitting next to me leaned over and proclaimed, “They should go on America’s Got Talent!”

Flow Live Review

You will feel a wide range of emotions throughout FLOW. The yoga-dance performance by Kristen and her three beautiful partners left me feeling completely at peace. Accompanied by Amy Anthony playing crystal bowls, each lit by the chakra color of their note, you could hear their deep, ocean-like breath as they moved and exposed their hearts. The performance was raw. You could feel their connection. The dancers closed their sequence with one final vinyasa before they ended in a seated lotus pose, reaching their crowns high towards the sky in a brief meditation.

Flow Live Review

The contemporary dance and aerial yoga left me with very different feelings. I had chills as I watched two lovers trapped in a heart breaking entanglement symbolized by a red ribbon, and sat on the very edge of my seat as I observed aerialist Cheryl Cox 30 feet in the air, breathtakingly held up by nothing but two silks and her own strength. I truly loved Radha Mehta’s original song “Stronger Better Me” that accompanied the aerial sequence and closed out the show. The inspiring lyrics still resonate within me: “You believe in a stronger, better me, and it sets me free.”

Flow Live Review

That’s what FLOW was entirely about: the freedom to tap into the greatness within, the belief that you can do anything you put your mind to, and living a conscious, mindful lifestyle. I was introduced to this kind of lifestyle through my yoga practice, and I firmly believe that if everyone honored the light within themselves and each other, this world would be a much more harmonious and uplifting place. If you have a chance to see this show in the future, I’d say that’s a pretty good place to start. 

View the FLOW Photo Gallery from the Show Here!

FLOW Live Review by Sarabeth Jackson. 

Photos courtesy of Cami Grudzinski.

In recognition of RavĂ© and Orlando’s yoga community’s contributions to raising awareness of health and wellness through the arts, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer officially named July 25, 2015 “FLOW Orlando Day.”

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