Traces

Published Friday 23 May 2008 at 11:40 by Liz Arratoon

Montreal’s Les 7 Doigts de la Main returns to the UK with its second show, Traces, for a criminally short run during the Brighton Festival.

It is a perfect night - the artists are electric - not only demonstrating prodigious circus skills, but also singing, dancing, acting and playing some of the music - and the audience loves every moment. From the opening sequence of near-miss acrobatics to the finale of Chinese hoop-diving, everything is presented in an enticingly joyful, almost casual, way, everything is exciting and often heart-in-mouth risky. Touches of humour blend in, and backing tracks range from Harold Arlen to Ry Cooder and Radiohead.

It is an ensemble show - with a mainly irrelevant theme of creation in the face of impending disaster - and the troupe remain on the urban set throughout. The essential elements are two superb hand-to-hand routines from Will Underwood and the elfin and breathtakingly elegant Heloise Bourgeois, and from brothers Francisco and Raphael Cruz. Brad Henderson performs some unique moves on a cyr wheel (a single large hoop), and they all excel on Chinese poles and in various routines with chairs, basketballs and Busby Berkeley-esque skateboards. Bourgeois has an acrobatic spot on an armchair, and dons a flame-like red dress for an aerial loop number.

But what lifts all their talents even higher is the exceptional choreography by the show’s directors Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider, who achieve a mesmerising flow and fluency that contemporary dancers would die for. Exuberant, playful and amazingly skilful, Traces instils a rare sense of wonder.