THE BALLOON MAN

Cirque Éloize offers deft, surprising fusion of acts

Cirque Éloize’s “iD’’ is set in a futuristic urban environment and features some electrifying performances. (2009 Theatre T & Cie/Valerie Remice)

By Don Aucoin Globe Staff / May 13, 2011

In Cirque Éloize’s “iD,’’ the city is alive, a place of wonder where anything can happen.Face-offs between rival gangs, attempts at love and friendship, and seemingly random street encounters in a futuristic urban environment give rise to displays of agility that are not just astonishing in the way they challenge the capacities of the human body — we expect that from circus performers of this caliber — but something even better: surprising.For example, in the production of “iD’’ that is at Citi Wang Theatre through Sunday, an in-line skater (Xuan Le) pivots and pirouettes, then suddenly leaps off the stage and dashes madly up the aisles with a stunt biker (Thibaut Philippe) in hot pursuit. As the pair make a furious circuit of the theater, with the biker popping wheelies inches from the delighted faces of audience members, it’s as if the venerable Wang has turned into the host venue for the X Games.
Founded in 1993, the Montreal-based Cirque Éloize specializes in the fusion of circus arts, music, and dance — all of which contribute to making “iD’’ a memorable evening in the theater. Though Cirque Éloize signed a strategic partnership last year with Cirque du Soleil, the troupe’s sensibility seems more akin to that of Les 7 Doigts de la main, a contemporary circus ensemble (also based in Montreal) whose dazzling “PSY’’ was presented in January at the Cutler Majestic Theatre by ArtsEmerson.
read more at:http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2011/05/13/cirque_loize_a_deft_surprising_fusion_of_circus_acts/