The Stage

33rd International Monte Carlo Circus Festival

Published Wednesday 21 January 2009 at 12:35 by Liz Arratoon

Programme One - Opening night is always a bit nervy for any artist and the first half of the evening at Monte Carlo’s 33rd festival somehow fails to take off. It starts with a flurry of white-feathered showgirls and shrimps - a very young boy and a tiny girl done up like JonBenet Ramsey - performing on aerial straps. But any interest in their skill is overridden by concern for their welfare.

Then the Mayorov Troupe’s ten men and a girl on a runway of trampettes covered with ring’s red carpet, though energetic, do little more than standard trampoline somersaults at high speed, but without finesse, and their last resort is playing the spoons.

Karl Trunk’s acrobatic goats and hefty boars - three of each - are upstaged by their glittery collars and his cute little dog, though the goats are quite nifty on their pins.

Moving in a slow, almost languid manner, Frenchman Romain Cabon brings a balletic touch to the aerial silks. He includes a death drop and inverted crucifix, lies horizontally on the blue fabric, and ends by climbing to the top of the cupola before spiralling back down.

Tall, willowy and ever stylish, Tr’Espace - who have transformed this ancient skill by whirring the diabolos vertically instead of in the standard horizontal position - are almost too arty for this setting. The pace of their act varies from slow to lightning fast, as they flick the diabolos between each other, cleverly wrap the cords round their bodies or use them like whips to catch the spinning reels.

The Giona Brothers usually present their liberty horses at equestrian events rather than circuses and this display will thrill anyone who loves horses, though Alex’s manner is slightly odd. Dressed as a sheik in white satin, and riding bareback with only a slim cord around their necks, he directs the six white steeds as if by telepathy. They sweep in one by one and reverse into position effortlessly.

Los Vivancos are a troupe of seven Tap Dogs-style flamenco-dancing brothers. Quite what they are doing in a circus ring is anyone’s guess, but the audience loves them.

High-wire artists the Tsisov Troupe work on a wire that shifts incline almost constantly, and create a second tier with a parallel rope. They perform some amazing and intricate feats of balance up to three-high on the wire, but things become overly gimmicky. The safety net removes any real tension and catches them when they all fall second time around.

Roger Falck opens the second half with his three Bengal and three white tigers. He shows great rapport with the big cats, whose interesting paces include his unique trick of two walking backwards together on their hind legs and another roaring at different volumes, but, at 25 minutes long, the act becomes wearisome.

Things pick up with the arrival of Flight of Passion, an elegant duo on aerial straps, whose number is dramatic and well choreographed to the music. She flies suspended from his teeth in an iron-jaw move and later he flies holding her ankle while she hangs from her other foot in a splits position. The final glitter shower completes this lovely number.

Another twosome follows. Duo Spiral perform hand to hand and strength holds like many other imitators of the statue act in Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam. Here the moves are done at a much faster speed, but their costumes are tacky and the act has an unattractively aggressive feel to it.

Looking like a young Marlene Dietrich, Elena Drogalova - and her trio of male partners - presents an extremely chic club juggling number. All dressed immaculately in three-piece suits, they start with three clubs each, before moving on to four, in a scintillating display of formation juggling, adding variety by incorporating high pedestals to work from and to.

Another beautifully stylish act is presented by Elvis Errani. He directs three Indian elephants - ridden by his mother and sisters - simply with his voice. The family all look smart in red trouser suits, the in colour this year, and, impressively, Beby, the youngest elephant, steps daintily between their prone bodies.

The evening finishes with two major numbers, the first being an incredible acrobatic Chinese rope act. Again dressed in red, the seven men and two girls - all shaven-headed - of the Fujian Province Troupe somersault in and around their lassos, sometimes while whirling them themselves. This act, set to a variety of drumbeats, brings a completely different Zen-like atmosphere to the more usual Chinese routines and is all the more appealing for it.

It is followed by the return, after three year’s absence, of acrobats from North Korea’s Pyong Yang Moranbong Circus Troupe on high-bar and Russian swing, who either fly from the swing to the bar or from the bar to land on the near-vertical swing. Such is the height of many of the somersaults that the landings are untidy. Overall, this act is clinical and is killed stone dead by the tinny and relentless upbeat music.

Monte Carlo is often flooded with clowns, but this evening the humour is in the hands of the endearing mad-haired Ukrainian clown Housch-Ma-Housch. His raspy voice and self-made cartoon sound effects run through his every entrance, and after a slightly slow start he wins everyone over with an audience participation spot involving a simple handclap and an “ooh”.

Programme Two - Sadly, Val de Fun, the clown on duty on the second night is not in Housch’s league and barely merits attention whenever he’s in the ring, dispensing his one idea comedy of errors slapstick routines.

In contrast, no one could fail to notice Gypsy Gomez in her sparkling two-piece. She combines a number of disciplines - hula-hooping on rolling mirror-globe and foot juggling in a glitzy routine that sees her keeping 50 hoops going at once. Her finale has a colourful disco-lights finish.

Of all the animals in a circus, dogs always look the happiest, and Wolfgang Lauenburger’s nine-strong team comprising several breeds is simply splendid. They carry out all their clever tricks with joyful abandon and are crowd favourites.

Russia’s Konstantin Mouraviev is a great gymnast and fights the flab in his fun number on a German wheel. Starting out as a heffer, he works out mercilessly in an attempt to lose weight. But one sip of booze re-inflates his stomach.

Wearing a short, white, floaty dress with turquoise trim, Maria Efremkina works on a decorative aerial hoop or lyre, using the ornate structure to aid her extreme poses. Bent backwards over the hoop from her waist, she drops down catching the hoop behind her knees, then inches down to her heels, and even hangs from just one.

Nothing can prepare anyone for iron man Dominic Lacasse’s feats of strength, unless they saw the French TV talent show that made him famous. Holding a narrow vertical pole with both hands, arms outstretched, he swings his body into the air and after a casual horizontal pull-up, holds rock-solid poses, walks in mid-air as if climbing overhead stairs, or circles the pole, body straight out. His workman gloves, though, spoil the effect.

The first half closes with the Moranbong Circus’ New Flying Girls number, and fly is what they do. Three girls in green and a man in white sail through space between three catchers dressed in red. Many triple somersaults and pirouettes are on offer and one flight alone consists of six consecutive moves. But the highlight is Kyong Ran Jo’s quad, which she manages first time. This is heart in the mouth stuff, marred only by the dreadful music.

The Mayorovs return for a comedy number with a nautical theme and Trunk is also back with a team of eight ponies who line up in height order, then create lots of interwoven patterns. But things get silly when one sits in a chair and another lies on a bed and goes to sleep. Yawn.

There is no hanging about with Dany Daniel’s deft rola-rola act. He builds stacks of cylinders that wobble in two directions, making things harder, then adds shelf after shelf, balancing all the while, and ends on a sky-high teetering column of eight.

Duo Sorellas - Rodrique Funke and Christoph Gobet - are two ripped men who perform bare-chested eight meters up on static trapeze without any safety devices. Their precision moves, sometimes synchronised, are perfectly timed to the music to gain the greatest dramatic effect. The whole act is executed with panache and daring, and includes thrilling feet to feet catches.

China’s 18-strong Acrobatic Troupe from Zhengzhou work on suspended Chinese poles that swing as the artists leap or somersault between them, making their spectacular moves more difficult. But the act is over-choreographed, over-crowded and the costumes are pretty tasteless too.

Alex Giona completes the line-up astride two horses and holding the reins of seven. Billed as The Post, it is not a patch on the lovely Maud Gruss’ version of the act, last seen here at the 30th festival, so it makes a strange choice for the finale.

Last year the festival hit the heights and sadly that standard has not quite been maintained. With the energy-draining length of the shows, you can’t help but long for quality not quantity. Let’s have more like the Sorellas and the simply superb Drogalova - many circus professionals’ favourite number - who was bizarrely overlooked by the jury when it came to the Clown awards.

Gold Clowns:

• Circus Moranbong - New Flying Girls
• Flight of Passion

Silver Clowns:

• Tsisov Troupe
• Fujian Troupe
• Circus Moranbong - High bar/Russian swing
• Giona Brothers

Bronze Clowns:

• Duo Sorellas
• Housch-Ma-Housch
• Elvis Errani
• Roger Falck
• Zhengzhou Troupe

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