After weathering the past year, Absinthe is still strong
There’s a moment in Absinthe that perfectly captures the sense of joy, relief and victory that is being felt on the Las Vegas Strip these days, both by the talented entertainers in shows such as this one and by visitors returning to the city after too many months away. By Brock Radke
Duo Vector, the powerful acrobatic act consisting of Michal “Misha” Furmanczyk and Lukasz Szczerba, has been part of Absinthe in Las Vegas since opening night on April 1, 2011. Their performance is one of strength and balance, of making impossible movements and holds look graceful and effortless. And the final hold, where Szczerba is supporting Furmanczyk and all of his body weight with just one hand while Furmanczyk maintains a completely rigid plank position, is the most difficult and mind-blowing feat in
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the act. Just when it seems like the two men won’t be able to keep it up, Szczerba slowly raises his left hand to his face and makes a small adjustment to his mask, pulling it up over his nose the same way all of us do. The audience explodes in laughter and applause. “We always did a little head turn to look at the audience in that part (of the act), so they can see we are doing this without any stress in our bodies,” Szczerba says. “But wearing the masks actually helps us, in a way, to show that it looks effortless and
that we can do this.” Indeed, “we can do this” has been a mantra that Las Vegas has clung to tightly over the past year as the pandemic has halted and slowed entertain-
ment in the Entertainment Capital of the World. But Absinthe has been one of the Vegas shows that returned to its stage as early and safely as possible, keep-
Photo by Erik Kabik
