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Sophisticated cirque chic
Cirque Éloize Cirkopolis
Birmingham Hippodrome
**** DANCE Consortium has brought us a very
different Cirque Éloize than the troupe who brought us iD at the
Hippodrome back in 2011. They have become a crossover act, marrying
circus to modern dance. Instead of the wham – bam - wow factor of a
theatrical circus, a big top on stage, a show living permanently on the
edge of danger and disaster we have a more elegant, circumspect
interpretation, cirque chic, from this Montreal-based company. It opens with a scene of wage slavery, the
drudgery of an office environment, the processing of endless sheets of
paper all in a drab, colourless grey – a recurring theme – all to a
video projection on to a huge screen of vertical blinds at the rear of
the stage, a screen with changing industrial and mechanical images
zooming in and out throughout the show. Against the monochrome, Metropolis background the
appearance of Léa Toran Jenner, from Germany, in a bright red dress with
a Cyr wheel, a large metal hoop, is a revelation like a ray of sunshine
on a dark, cloudy day. As she sweeps and spins around the stage with acr There is a juggling extravaganza with 10 jugglers
and clubs flying everywhere with a finale seeing all jugglers exchanging
clubs with two jugglers on a slowly turning desk which, apart from
looking spectacular demands a high level of technical skill – and trust
from the two men on the desk in the middle of the fusillade of clubs.
Every circus needs a clown, a role taken by
Britain’s Ashley Carr, who is the original wage slave from the opening
and is a link to acts with his own poignant moment with a clothes rail
to close act one and open act two. Act two is more circus orientated than dance with
trapeze and a Chinese pole which sees Canadians Olivier Poitras, Maude
Arseneault and Mikaël Bruyère-L’abbé climbing a pole as easily as stairs
to perform breathtaking acrobatics as well as hurtling headfirst down
the pole stopping dead with their heads centimetres above the ground.
Mistime that and you really would stop dead. We had five clubs being juggled at once and a
German wheel, which is two hoops joined by bars and looking like some
mediaeval machine of war – or torture - with men inside seemingly
risking life and limb, or at least being crushed as it rolled along. We had shows of strength and balance from Ugo
Laffolay, hand balancing and acrobats and banquine, that circus art
where a flyer, in this case Canadian Charlotte O’Sullivan, is hurled
into the air and lands using a sort of human trampoline of the hands of
the rest of the act. Then there is another circus favourite, the
teeterboard, or springboard as it is known here, that seesaw affair used
to launch a man into space, or at least twisting and somersaulting high
in to the air. They make it look so easy you wonder how hard it can be
to do graceful spins and turns and land nonchalantly on your feet. Not
that I would suggest trying it unless you like hospital food. This is a more sophisticated show from the 13
strong cast of Cirque Éloize but all that elegance and embrace of dance
comes at a price; missing are the wow factor and sheer unrelenting pace,
variety, streetwise attitude and mindblowing excitement of iD. Is it a circus or dance troupe? Or both?
Co-directed by Jeannot Painchaud and choreographer Dave St Pierre, it is
beautifully performed and presented, showing silky movement and
consummate skill, but even with the fine balance of its circus
performers, at times there is a danger of falling between two stools –
and I did miss the trial bike climbing the walls or skipping and jumping
over volunteers and the trampowall. To 28-03-15. Roger Clarke
25-03-15
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obatic
beauty within the hoop to a haunting soundtrack you can only marvel at
the skill and how elegant circus can be. It is a strangely moving
performance.