STOMPing its way to Macau, percussion piece embodies gov’t vision for local art scene

World-renowned theatrical sensation, STOMP, an eight-person performance group that uses everyday items such as lighters, bin lids, plastic bags and brooms to hammer out a percussionist rhythm, is coming to The Venetian Macao next month.
The performance, perhaps more than other recent shows, acutely embodies the vision that the local government has for Macau’s art scene, which would see locals take up the arts and tap into their creative potential.
STOMP is more of a brand than a single show, with as many as five performance companies operating the show worldwide at any time. Having toured for more than 25 years since the production’s inception, the show has been performed over 20,000 times to an audience of more than 12 million people across 53 countries.
Six performers, from the eight-
person group, who will headline at the resort next month spoke to reporters at a promotional event yesterday afternoon, which included a preview performance of some of their routines.
“This is the first time that we, as a group, have performed together,” explained Richard Young, one of the artists in the group. “So each of our characters comes out in that, and how you might [act] with one person in a performance changes when it is with another person.”
Dominik Schad, another performing artist, explained that the show’s organizers are “constantly looking for new people,” adding that even people who have seen previous performances of STOMP are unlikely to have seen this particular group. “In our groups, there are usually people who have done [this] for 15 years and others who are new […] and that makes it interesting as well.”
The show is devoid of language, instead using rhythm, dance and comedy to convey their message.
“It’s an international show: [even among the performers] we are from different parts of the world,” described Young. “Because of that we don’t use language in the show and so it’s open to everybody to interpret [the performance]. We use rhythm as a language instead of actual words.”
Asked by the Times how the show might be uniquely positioned to fulfill the MSAR government’s objective of stimulating local artistic development – given its very nature of using household items to create an artistic experience –  the performers remarked that STOMP was “perfectly” conducive to this end.
“I think that STOMP is the perfect show to encourage people [to take up the arts] because everyone can find [at home] the objects that we use on stage,” said Schad.
“So after seeing the show, whenever someone picks up a matchbox or broom or a basketball, they might think: oh shit! – we could make rhythm with that! So I think that STOMP is perfect for encouraging people to do something.”

Six members of the STOMP group that will perform in Macau next month, including Dominik Schad (top left), Richard Young (bottom center) and Alexandria Bradley (bottom right)

“We also have a wide variety of people in the show,” added performer Alexandria Bradley, making the case that the art form could appeal to people of many backgrounds and interests. “We have people from different backgrounds and body shapes, so not all of the [performers] are the same. We have a diversity and I think that also invites interest.”
Asked whether there are differences in how audiences from various countries respond to the show, the artists affirmed that there were but that the differences were inexpressible or difficult to put into words.
However, given that their shows at The Venetian next month will mark all six artists’ first foray into the greater China region (though not for the STOMP brand), the group admitted they did not know which elements of the show the local market would most appreciate.
“We are now very excited to find out how a Chinese audience will react – and how polite and excited they are,” said Schad.
Having arrived in the city on Sunday, the group had only limited impressions of Macau. The few words they selected to describe their initial impressions included “gigantic,” “incredible” and “impressive.”
“Everywhere you look, it’s just wow,” surmised Young.
A series of performances will be held at The Venetian’s theater between September 23 and October 9, with an evening performance every day during that period except Mondays, and an additional matinée performance on Saturdays and Sundays.