'Traces' blends dazzling routines, amazing performers
The words “intimate” and “circus” rarely go together. Yet that pairing is exactly how you could describe “Traces,” an exciting and very entertaining 2006 show by the French-Canadian troupe 7 Fingers now making its U.S. touring debut at the 550-seat Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place in Chicago.
Unlike most circuses that play up glitz and glamour with splashy colors and shiny sequins, 7 Fingers deconstructs matters into a much grittier and muted palate largely in grays. And rather than rely on crowds of clowns and contortionists, “Traces” features only seven international performers onstage.
But what multitalented performers they are. One minute the “Traces” artists are executing leaps and spins as they propel through the air. The next minute, they could be playing the piano or sketching scenery on an overhead projector.
“Traces” features a series of amazing acts like any circus revue, but co-directors and co-choreographers Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider break from typical circus templates to make sure the show is not just a physical display of automatons' daring doings.
Everything in “Traces” is much more personable, since Carroll and Snider have the performers introduce themselves with physical stats and random interesting facts (for instance, Canadian performer Philippe Normand-Jenny is the son of two psychologists). Childhood photos of the artists are also flashed by at strategic points, making you think about the paths that led the performers to this very moment.
Carroll and Snider also subtly overlay themes and commentary to some of the routines, adding performance art elements and extra depth to the routines.
In the hand-to-hand balancing of the hunky and self-proclaimed clumsy American Mason Ames and the petite Canadian Valerie Benoit-Charbonneau, one can infer the push and pull of a romantic couple who alternately drop and support each other (it's like a more stunt-filled type of interpretive modern dance).
Before the entire ensemble engages in a series of tricks scampering up and across two vertical poles, Carroll and Snider present the poles as two unwieldy prisonlike impediments that force the cast to break out and overcome their confinements.
Carroll and Snider use the song “It's Only a Paper Moon” to not only illustrate a routine involving skateboards (with Mathieu Cloutier whizzing by wearing inline roller skates), but perhaps to ironically comment on the whole romanticism of flashy circus arts themselves.
But any deep meanings to be drawn from the routines in “Traces” suggesting that life is far too short and precious are also tempered by a great sense of playfulness and comic timing (particularly when Swiss artist Florian Zumkehr balances atop a precarious-looking pile of chairs, only to have his moment of glory cut short when he's forced to perform another feat without any downtime).
The fact that the co-directors can't always inject an overarching meaning onto every routine (particularly Chinese artist Xia Zhengqi's amazing yo-yo juggling and American Bradley Henderson's visually dazzling spinning in an oversize hoop) just goes to show that “Traces” isn't afraid of simply letting its performers strut their amazing stuff.
The astonishments over the superskilled “Traces” performers pile one on top of the other. And though the $50 to $71.50 tickets to “Traces” may make some people balk, remember that you often have to pay those prices to get up-close and personal with many bigger and more famous traveling circus troupes.
'Traces'
<p>Three stars</p>
<p>Location: Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com</p>
<p>Showtimes: Performance schedule varies, but most shows at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday and select Wednesdays from Tuesday through Sunday, Dec. 19
Running time: Approximately 85 minutes without intermission </p>
<p>Tickets: 50.00 - 71.50</p>
<p>Parking: Nearby pay garages</p>
<p>Rating: For general audiences (though it sounds like there's a swear word in one recorded song)</p>