THE BALLOON MAN

National Circus School productions tap into performers’ acting abilities

 

MONTREAL, QUE.: MAY 22, 2013--Graduating students from the The National Circus School rehearse their year-end show, La Vie en Swing, at La Tohu in Montreal on Wednesday May 22, 2013.

Photograph by: Allen McInnis , The Gazette

By Kathryn Greenaway, THE GAZETTE

May 23, 2013

MONTREAL - Very different types of celebrations act as dramatic catalysts for the National Circus School’s two-part annual run at Tohu.

Two productions alternate nights, beginning with Alain Francoeur’s wedding tale Pour le meilleur et pour le pire, on May 28.

Sharon Moore’s Second World War dance-hall drama La vie en swing debuts May 29.

The creations feature the graduates of the internationally renowned school.

These are students at the top of their game, who have spent years distilling their particular circus skills into a sensational act that will then be used to audition on the international circus circuit.

These acts are woven into each creator’s narrative.

Francoeur has been working with circus artists for 15 years, but began his career in dance (Brouhaha Danse) and dance-theatre (Carbone 14) before adding circus to his body of work (Cirque Éloize, Cirque Alphonse). And so he brings a particular dance-circus esthetic to his story about a wedding party.

“The relationships you witness at a wedding offer all sorts of opportunities to tell stories,” Francoeur said. “There are a multitude of personalities. People break up, fall in love. But it’s not a linear story. It’s more a series of tableaus with all the artists onstage all the time.”

The music is plucked from the playbooks of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Seat boogies are a real possibility.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/National+Circus+School+productions+into+performers+acting+abilities/8425373/story.html#ixzz2UCoEtdYF