At the 1998 Winter Olympics, figure skater Surya Bonaly did something unprecedented. She landed a backflip on one foot, a move that’s so dangerous that it’s illegal in professional skating competitions. It was also the inspiration for this solo piece presented in public spaces by choreographer Marta Izquierdo and performed by Éric Martin, one of her most faithful collaborators, with whom she shares her passion for skating. While for Marta skates were a means of escape and freedom during her youth in Carabanchel, for Éric they were tied to an elite-level sports career that was abruptly cut short after a serious injury.

Curious by nature, Marta likes to explore the different layers of lives of the people she dances with. For her, bodies are not instruments, they are people loaded with experiences, dreams and fears. All these layers come together in Flip, a surprising piece that blends the codes of Commedia dell’Arte, contemporary dance, theatre and sport to take us inside Éric’s personality while he dances on skates. A dancer who is both exceptional and peculiar, who despite being nearly sixty years old, still retains his youthful energy and a very special sensitivity.

Drawing on the autobiographical elements that converge in the piece, Marta views Flip as a metaphorical leap backwards in time, which ultimately addresses such a universal theme as fear: from the fear of getting injured doing a backflip to fear of the passage of time. At a time when fear and vulnerability have been weaponised by far-right parties, it is more important than ever to remember that fear and desire have always been closely linked, and that fear does not have to lead to paralysis.

Flip, like Alberto Cortés’ Analphabet, reminds us that we sometimes love the thing that can hurt us the most. But it also encourages us to love unreservedly, madly and without fear, and to turn bravado and complicity into a shared power.