Sometimes hype can be a hindrance, raising expectations beyond the achievable and leading to a disappointed audience. Yet the hype surrounding Montreal based troupe 7 fingers is truly deserved and doesn’t disappoint in a spellbinding performance that seamlessly mashes together circus skills, dance, acrobatics and theatre.
Last seen in Edinburgh during the 2007 Fringe Festival and achieving glowing reviews, the 7 fingers kick off their first ever UK tour in Scotland with enough energy to power the city for a year. The original quintet of performers have passed the torch onto five new, young and fresh technicians who are just as impressive and endearing to behold.
The five newbie’s all hail from Montreal’s National Circus School via disciplines in gymnastics, music and dance. Their mix of performing knowledge and artistic backgrounds fuses together a show that is full of the performers’ personalities and refreshingly invites the audience into their world.
That world is one of bohemian abandon; the cinque is casually dressed in jeans and t-shirts, inhabiting an abandoned warehouse to escape outside world pressures and enjoy discovering and exploring themselves and each other.
The cast convey an informal warmth and joy that puts the audience at ease and on their side, and when teamed with their acrobatic agility, never fails to impress a room full of spectators who verbally gasp and awe with delight.
The cast powered through a 90 minute performance with raw passion and determination with jaw-dropping physical theatre interweaving moments of musical interludes and rich characterisation, a highlight being the first half finale which saw the cast defying gravity in a routine using two high metal poles accompanied by Radiohead’s evocative Talk Show Host.
Skillfully directed and choreographed by Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider, set pieces using skateboards, basketballs and a stack of five hoops increase the wow factor. These are cleverly intersected with moments of duets, solos and music which created poignant highlights and a healthy splattering of humourous exchanges.
It is rare that a dance programme can cause an audience to truly enter it’s world, becoming engrossed in the jokes, sensuality, emotions and acrobatic splendour but Traces draws you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat, often leaving you afraid to breathe until the feat is pulled off with aplomb, leading you to woop with delight.
Lightning fast manoeuvres, co-ordinated scuttles, endless tumbles and leaps, and not fogetting the sheer force of balance and stretches in mid-air means the production creates perfection, achieving versatility in an exhilarating programme that has to be witnessed to be believed.
© Lindsay Corr, February 2010
Traces is at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre until Wed 3 February, then transfers to Glasgow Theatre Royal Thur 4 – Sat 6 February.