Hungarian dance-circus company Recirquel’s latest piece IMA (or Pray) sets a new bar for what can be achieved by solo aerial performances. Set in a black-out dome inside Murrayfield Ice Rink, this immersive and physically altering show uses sophisticated lighting design, an original score and wildly talented circus and ballet professionals to achieve something otherworldly. 

Bence Vági is responsible for this show’s choreography, which seamlessly blends elements of contemporary dance, aerial acrobatics and ballet sensibilities executed both on the ground and high above the audience’s heads. Without any clear references to religion in the piece, sitting inside this installation feels acutely spiritual, the dancer’s form often landing in positions of worship or resembling iconography. This is mirrored musically in composer Szirtes Edina Mókus’ score, as sounds resembling Gregorian chants and choral harmonies weave their way into orchestral arrangements. 

The soloist begins as a ghostly figure under a shimmering veil standing in the middle of audience members, who are sitting in the round on stools or cushions. They begin with slow sweeping movements around the floor, as speckles of light peak through the dome like stars against a dark sky. This suspenseful opening, although simple compared to what’s coming, already showcases the strength and flexibility of the dancer, who captivatingly extends every vertebra with no visible sign of weight or struggle.

Every moment of IMA flows exquisitely into the next, even when beaming strobe lights reach into corners and our dancer is lifted into the air by a looped black rope. Their fluid transitions from floor to air against depthless black play a trick on the senses, making us feel suspended and buoyant. IMA may be awe-inspiring for its showcase of physicality, but at punctuated points in the choreography when music, movement and light combine at once, something entirely non-physical takes over.

One sequence of circular stag-like leaps and a section where the dancer swings back and forth in a foetal position over the ropes capture a juvenile vulnerability totally at odds with this masculine form in front of us (something that may well elicit an entirely different reaction when performed by the show’s three other rotating dancers). Presumably a result of balancing sensory deprivation and stimulation, Recirquel’s masterpiece allows pure visceral emotion to flood in. This performance is a feast for the eyes but even greater nourishment for the soul.

Recirquel: IMA, Assembly Murrayfield Ice Rink, until 27 August, times vary.