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written and directed by Holly Treddenick & Sabrina Pringle

Femmes du Feu, Toronto Fringe Festival,

Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace, Toronto

June 30-July 10, 2010

Femmes du Feu who wowed the Fringe last year with Head First are back with their second full-length aerial dance piece, The Plank.  Head First involved acrobatics on aerial silks, a common feature in Cirque du Soleil shows.  The Plank takes the Femmes’ silk-work to the realm of tall ships with the ropes of the rigging, the mast, the sail and the anchor all providing apparatus for acrobatic feats of strength and control as beautiful as they are amazing.  The acts, organized in ever-increasing difficulty, showcase the Femmes first as jolly sailors, then as sirens--the second better reflecting the fearless magical beings they are.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2010-07-01.

Photo: Holly Treddenick and Sabrina Pringle. ©Andy Berdan.