Love at First Sight-- Circus in Montreal - CircusTalk

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Love at First Sight– Circus in Montreal

Coups de Coeur is the name of an annual circus show that distracts Montreal from the dead of winter. Over the weekends from February 22nd until March 4th, twelve circus performers gather from around the world at Tohu to put on a show around a loose theme, to wow circus goers, families and  first time visitors with a mix of world class circus skills and to revisit some classics as well as explore some innovative acts. The theme this year seemed to be retro-futuristic outer space party—complete with astronaut DJ (Guillaume Biron) and the humorous master of ceremonies and familiar 7 Finger-about-town, Sebastien Soldevila. Now in its third year, Coups de Coeur is becoming a tradition in Montreal, one that does not go unnoticed by the area arts press, such as this review in Jeu Review de Theatre by  Francoise Boudreault or this review in Mat TV by Maxime D. Pomerleau.

There is a festive spirit to the event, something director Fernand Rainville admits he was aiming for while envisioning it as more of a gala rather than cabaret style as in the previous years. Programming agent Marisol De Santis explained that the premier night was a benefit for Tohu, a time when the local circus companies and directors all attend. Rainville elaborated on the plan,“This year we wanted an aesthetic theme to keep it light and fun– and we played with the idea of being part of the universe–to pick up on that idea that we are all stardust. It came to me because of this realization of how some of our artists push their research—taking an acrobatic skill or apparatus and reinventing it. That is really what nouveau cirque is all about. A lot of the artists in the show are taking it to another level and that is what the space conquest was about, going to where we haven’t gone before. This year the stars really aligned to have a high level of artist available too, and there is a lot of humor in the way we present it.”

In big shows, the artist often serves the story-line, but we can break that down and see what each artist is all about doing.

As the director, Rainville gives a lot of credit to the creative team for the way the shown unfolds, “Sebastian has set the tone over the years of being very irreverential and very impertinent. He is trying to rehumanize it. The initial mission Stephane Lavoie set us on was that there is no real star system in the circus, but we see them as extraordinary athletes and sometimes as superheroes. And we want to bring it back to what they are personally and what their journey has been. We can’t do a cirque bio on them but we do shed light in to some of the personal elements and when the audience leaves the performance they know a little bit more about the human behind the physical exploit. In big shows, the artist often serves the story-line, but we can break that down and see what each artist is all about doing.”

Bringing the focus back to the artist as a person was accomplished with a little humor and storytelling from the emcee, often with a few snapshots of the performers in earlier days projected on the big screen. Although the concept of combining personal history with performance is not new, 7 Fingers has built their brand on it in some respects, the idea of combining it with a retro-futuristic theme of past/present/future may have been a bit far -reaching and a little incongruous—a plan which might have caused some head-scratching in the audience if it weren’t for the infectious party feel to the whole event, and the pacing, which kept things moving forward.

The show has an equal number of male and female artists in it, even down to a good balance of gender in solo and duo acts. I asked Rainville and De Santis if this was an important issue for them to weigh when programming the event, and Rainville replied, “I always try to get a good ratio of women in the show. That is part of how I feel it needs to be balanced. We discuss that balance.”

“The companies like Cirque Eloize and Cirque du Soleil give the numbers but we can discuss and really work with them to pick acts we love. We specifically requested a female act with Cirque du Soleil this year for example and we chose from three artists they suggested,” De Santis agreed.

Looking to the future and to women is not just lip service for them, as many of their act choices support this thinking. For example, one of the most powerful acts in Coups de Coeur was from the Ecole national de cirque student Mizuki Shinagawa of Japan on silks. A dynamic, thrumming drum-heavy folk song drove the action as Shinagawa’s intense use of stillness versus motion on the silks showcased her true mastery of them as an apparatus. Fierce and grim posturing combined with the intensity of her movements, like high-powered spins and heart-stopping beautiful cascades of the silks really began the show on a note of promise for the future of innovation and exploration in circus arts.

Jonathan Morin of Quebec did a number on the innovative device of the crossed wheel. While still in its early stages of exploration as a tool of circus, his act did have many surprising twists and turns, as the cross wheel sometimes acts as an elliptical ball, rolling sometimes forward or spiralling backwards, depending on its angle. Emanating a classic masculine vibe, Jonathan managed to make good use of the crossed wheel’s versatility with feats of both prowess and grace.

But the show did not stay squarely in innovation territory. Sometimes it explored the much beloved work of archetypal demonstrations of skill, strength and beauty, as was the case with the duo from the US, Mary Wolfe and Tyce Nielsen on static trapeze. Their grace and poise was palpable.

Hugo Oullet Cote of Flip Fabrique (and Quebec) on straps delved deeply in to the realm of contemporary expression with his Skyping straps number that explores the idea of perspective by allowing the audience member to experience Hugo’s viewpoint on the big screen as he whirls and flips effortlessly about while holding his cellphone with one hand and supporting his body weight with his free arm. He also performed a clown piece in a fat suit which gave wings and a kind of lightness that can only be imagined to the fat man although perhaps raising a few eyebrows in this era of awareness regarding body shaming.

Julius and Cesar from Germany and France, fresh from winning the bronze medal at Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris, did their hand-to-hand act that will be featured in a new Cirque Eloize show. With sublime casualness, their relationship unfolded, sometimes bumping up against the comedic twists of a big brother/little brother scenario, and sometimes crossing in to the more intense world of masculine power dynamics, but always enthralling with their seamless choreography and electrifying stunts.

Marie-Eve Bisson of Quebec and Cirque du Soleil on aerial hoop showed a masterful interpretation of the spinning single point lyra, claiming the stage and the air with her dance and contortion moves on the device.

Nicole Heaslewood of England brought fire hoop in to the contemporary performance realm with a pensive and entrancing act that blended the flow of hoop with classic dance presentation.

Sisters Erdebesuvd and Buyankhishig Ganbaatar from Mongolia performed an exquisitely timed mirror-image, traditional contortion act which is always a crowd pleaser.

Matthew Richardson from the US ,and straight from his guest appearance at Cirque de Demain, performed the dream catcher wheel number he also performed in Paris. This lyrical and complex piece involved an audio transcript, aerial elements (where the device doubled as a lyra) and ground components (where it was suddenly a cyr wheel) which culminated in a piece of art work being produced. Ambitious, forward-thinking and unique, the tone of the work somehow still also stayed in the neo-classic realm via its presentation.

De Santis explained that another aim behind the annual Coups de Coeur event has historically been to showcase artists from acts they have seen around the world. Nevertheless, the problem of how to present a series of individual acts that are not part of a larger show requires a solution, and the solution this year was to touch base with humans while recognizing their individual talents in a non-competitive setting. Rainville explained, “It’s not pretentious at all. I’ve worked for many companies where you set off with a tone or a storyline, but that’s not what it’s about at all here. But it’s not a competition either. They are all chosen and treated the same way, so in a sense its being part of a group of artists that are among the best in their field and that have pushed the research. And it’s a junction point for all of the Quebec companies.”

Coups De Coeur runs from February 22nd until March 4th at Tohu in Montreal. Tickets range from $15 to $48 CAD.

All photos courtesy of Benoit Z. Leroux
Kim Campbell
Writer -USA
Kim Campbell has written about circus for CircusTalk.News, Spectacle magazine, Circus Now, Circus Promoters and was a resident for Circus Stories, Le Cirque Vu Par with En Piste in 2015 at the Montreal Completement Cirque Festival. They are the former editor of CircusTalk.News, American Circus Educators magazine, as well as a staff writer for the web publication Third Coast Review, where they write about circus, theatre, arts and culture. Kim is a member of the American Theater Critics Association.
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Kim Campbell

Kim Campbell has written about circus for CircusTalk.News, Spectacle magazine, Circus Now, Circus Promoters and was a resident for Circus Stories, Le Cirque Vu Par with En Piste in 2015 at the Montreal Completement Cirque Festival. They are the former editor of CircusTalk.News, American Circus Educators magazine, as well as a staff writer for the web publication Third Coast Review, where they write about circus, theatre, arts and culture. Kim is a member of the American Theater Critics Association.