Renowned circus troupe Circa, originally from Australia, rejoined audiences in Montreal on Wednesday, where they captivated audiences with their floor games and daring high-flying jumps in a 70-minute sequence.
She presented her first show in a series of five of her new creation “Humans 2.0”, the logical follow-up to “Humans” in the TOHU Rundsaal.
PHOTO AGENCY QMI, MARIO BEAUREGARD
The three-act new installment picks up where the last show left off and retains the same interest in defining what it means to be human, with the same lycra shorts and black mesh t shirt With no artifice, scenery or props, the 10 performers of the troupe have no playground but a white carpet covering the circular stage, which takes on a new look depending on the light, sometimes muted, scarlet red or bright white.
Covered with smooth rope, aerial bands and trapeze numbers – through which the artists have walked solo or in duet – almost as a pretext to mark the beginning or end of an act, here it is the contortions on the floor and the human pyramids that dominate. Borrowing contemporary dance codes under composer Ori Lichtik’s electronic music, Circa draws on mutual aid, the limits of the body, the community of its artists and the trust they have in one another to speak of vulnerability and strength. They throw, catch, carry, and sometimes escape or fall with breathless mastery.
PHOTO AGENCY QMI, MARIO BEAUREGARD
“The show is choreographed, but the artists don’t necessarily reproduce the same thing night after night. We know what we’re doing and where we’re going, but we ask the acrobats to be extremely present in the moment and to connect with their feelings, but also with the other bodies they’re working with,” director Ben Knaptin told im Interview at QMI Agency, a few days before the media premiere.
At the same time, the very sober costumes evolved towards transparency over the course of the evening, revealing the artists’ bodies at the very end through their black overalls. “The second act allows us to move forward with costumes that look more like everyday clothes (“street clothes”), and the third takes us elsewhere with more abstract dresses, which allows us to balance the dramaturgy of the show and translate what we.” are the limits of what the body can endure, want to tell and want to show,” described the director, for whom “the question of what it is to be human is the best to answer? it is with the vocabulary of the body”.
PHOTO AGENCY QMI, MARIO BEAUREGARD
A connection with Montreal
“Humans 2.0” is Circa’s 10th creation in Montreal, making it the most played foreign company in the TOHU since 2004. It’s also one of the most played circus companies in the world, but stops at TOHU are always special for Ben Knapton.
“Over the years we have presented several of our shows at TOHU and it is very special every time we come. It really is one of the “highlights” of our calendar. The exchange we create with the TOHU audience is very important to us. This closeness we have with him is really special,” he said.
- Humans 2.0 was created by Yaron Lifschitz and will be presented at TOHU until February 19th.