JUGGLERS and ballet dancers share the stage for the first time in Gandini Juggling’s 4x4.

The Salisbury Journal caught up with director and world renowned juggler Sean Gandini to talk about his latest juggling and ballet inspired fusion.

“We are very excited about visiting Salisbury.” said Sean. “We have heard many good things about the festival.”

4x4 revisits Gandini’s love affair with pure patterns and mathematics.

Discussing the show he added: “It is a mixture of ballet and juggling. These two art forms have not met before, and certainly not in the way we present them. The show differs from what people might expect. I think it is closer to dance than circus.

“We have been thinking about doing something with ballet dancers for a while and the opportunity arose about two years ago. We were performing a different show at the Royal Opera House and chatted with someone from the ballet world and the collaboration took off from there."

4x4 is also directed by former Royal Ballet dancer Ludovic Ondiviela, with music from Ashkenazy protege Nimrod Borenstein and performed live by Camerata Alma Viva.

Sean’s passion for juggling was sparked when he was a teenager as he explains: “I have been juggling for a very long time. I was a childhood magician and during my teenage years got obsessed with juggling.”

He set up Gandini Juggling with his wife Kati Ylä-Hokkala, who is the company’s co-director and a retired rhythmic gymnast, after the pair decided they wanted to explore juggling from a dance perspective.

Juggling, he says has become more and more popular. He said: “I am particularly interested in juggling as a performance art form. In Europe there is currently an interesting creative atmosphere around our discipline.”

4x4 comes to Salisbury Playhouse on Wednesday, May 27, at 7.30pm.

And it is a show not to be missed as Sean explains: “It is something unique and quite beautiful and something they are unlikely to have seen before. It also has a specially commissioned score for string quintet and a rather stunning lighting design.”

For tickets call the festival box office on 0845 241 9651 or go to salisburyfestival.co.uk