Image - Valerie Remise
Les 7 Doigts De La Main. In English, they're called 7 Fingers. But as is often the case in translating from one language to another, not least French to English, much is lost in translation. In French, 'seven fingers, one hand' is crisp, idiomatic eloquence, neatly describing the paradox of parts, or individuals, working in tight unity, so as to emulate a well-oiled machine.
7 Fingers, accordingly, is an acrobatic engine without peer; though it's as much choreographic, musical and theatrical, as acrobatic(al). In the beginning there were 7 (directors and founding members). Now, there are but 5 fingers (onstage, anyway): four men and a babe (if you will). However, they reach the parts mere mortals and no beer does: these five easily do the job of seven.
Traces is 7 Fingers' second production (the faces, arms and legs have changed), having taken shape in Montreal and debuted there only a few years ago. In those three short years, it's toured the length and breadth of the planet, to massive acclaim. It's not hard to see why. From the first moment, it enthrals, excites, inspires, takes the breath away, puts the heart in the mouth, charms & captivates, with its incomparable savoir-faire.
The company's website's blurb puts it rather succinctly: Traces combines high-level circus skills with an electric, urban street energy. It is full of wit, rich with character (drawing on the distinctive personalities of the troupe), romantic, comedic and uses, for the most part, low-tech devices to stage thrills that titillate, in teetering on spills. The tools with which 'the Fingers' ply their trade include Chinese poles; a basketball; skateboards and rollerskates (employed to charismatic effect in a golden years of Hollywood production number); a classical piano ('dressed', unceremoniously, in old pieces of timber); a swinging mike; a guitar; vocals; live camera projections; illustration; hoops. Expertise in all these areas is of an astonishingly even and polished calibre.
As with their original predecessors, who pioneered and toured Traces, the new kids on the block hail from Canada's National Circus School: Antoine Auger; Antoine Carabinier-Lepine; Philip Rosenberg; Raphael Cruz; Genevieve Morin. The average age hovers perilously close to 23; perhaps their collective years is a better, more accurate reflection of the skills they bring.
Co-directors and choreographers are Shana Carroll & Gypsy Snider, but the show, methinks is as much conceived, produced and directed by the collective as by these overseeing maestros. Indeed, this is the greatest possible tribute to Carroll & Snider: they've shown the confidence and courage to trust in themselves and their charges, to the nth. One must also pay homage to coach and acrobatic researcher, Sebastien Soldevila. And it'd all fall apart if not for rigger and cameraman, Tiago Chasqueira.
Traces has a loose theme: it's about mortality and making one's mark; hence the grungy, textural set and subdued lighting, as well as some gritty, sometimes dark and exceptionally diverse musical accompaniments. For the former, I know not who to credit; the latter, the meticulous work of Valerie Menard.
In exploring this territory, the key postulation is that creation is the only antidote to destruction; a contention of veritably biblical proportions. This is exemplified in the opening sequence, a full-tilt, chaotic, tumbling, violent acrobatic interplay, using up all the stage. From there, it veritably runs the gauntlet of human emotion, expressiveness and physicality. Feats of nigh-on impossible athleticism, delivered, by turns, with tenderness, humour, affection, sensuousness, poignancy and urgency. A glimpse is worth a thousand words.
I'd jump through hoops to see it, and them, again.
Arts Projects Australia presents
Traces
The Seven Fingers
Directors and Choreographers: Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider
SYDNEY
Venue: IMB Theatre, Wollongong
Dates: 5 Aug – 9 Aug 2009
Bookings: merrigong.com.au
CANBERRA
Venue: Canberra Theatre
Dates: August 12 - 15
MELBOURNE
Venue: Comedy Theatre
Dates: 19 - 29 August
Bookings: www.ticketek.com | 132 849
Visit: www.7doigts.com
