Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Canadian Stage proudly presents the Toronto premiere of Triptyque, from Québec's The 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts Creative Collective, Cuisine & Confessions, Traces) - one of the world’s most innovative circus companies. Dance, visual poetry, and awe-inspiring spectacle combine in this virtuoso trilogy on stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre from November 15–19 for an exclusive limited engagement of six performances.
Created and directed by company co-founder and Artistic Director Samuel Tétreault and combining the talents of three internationally renowned choreographers, Triptyque fuses defying feats of athleticism, the lyricism of contemporary dance and the poetics of the imagination. From Quebec’s Marie Chouinard (The Garden of Earthly Delights, 16.17), Anne et Samuel examines the relationship between gravity and the human body with awe-inspiring effect. Straddling the gap between stillness and movement, Victor Quijada (Quebec, RUBBERBANDance) presents the hand-balancing quintet Variations 9.81, while Marcos Morau (Spain, La Veronal) lures us into the space between wake and sleep with the mesmerizing Nocturnes.
“At Canadian Stage we always strive to find artists who communicate something that feels immediate and who push the boundaries of form to do so,” said Matthew Jocelyn, Artistic and General Director, Canadian Stage. “The 7 Fingers have taken the medium of circus – which has traditionally implied some measure of artifice and largeness of scale, and reimagined it on a human scale. This is perhaps never been more evident than in Triptyque, which marries their trademark aesthetic with choreography from three visionary dance artists, including regular Canadian Stage collaborator Marie Chouinard. These three pieces all speak to the fundamental questions of human existence in ways that will connect emotionally with audiences through the expansion of the language of the human body.”
Speaking to the inspirations behind Triptyque creator/director/principal performer Samuel Tétreault adds “As a young adolescent I fell in love with the circus arts and entered an intensive training period at the National Circus School of Montreal. But soon enough, as I took my first steps in the artistic universe, I also developed a passion for contemporary dance. At the age of 17, astonished and inspired by the works of Louise Lecavalier in La La La Human Steps, Baryshnikov’s interpretation of Le Jeune Homme et la mort and Marie Chouinard’s Rite of Spring I even considered dropping out of the circus school to pursue a dance career. Still today, despite 25 years as a hand balancer perfecting the art of immobility, my fascination for dance, the art of movement, hasn’t left me.”
The 7 Fingers was founded in 2002, bringing together seven co-founders who had already tallied more than 15 years of professional circus arts practice in some of the world’s most prestigious circuses and theatres.
On the strength of this impressive track record, these friends and colleagues pooled their collective ambition to create a new, ground breaking, more intimate type of circus, in which extraordinary acts burst forth from everyday settings. These acts blend traditionally separate disciplines like acrobatics and contemporary dance, theatre and physical prowess, interactive multimedia and immersive experience.
Today, the collective has expanded to a team of 200 artists, managers and technicians that give around 1,000 performances of their artistic creations or collaborations every year. Along the way the company has amassed myriad awards from around the world, most recently being honoured with a Drama Desk Award for Queen of the Night, performed at the Diamond Horseshoe in New York, and in 2016 they shared the Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal - recognizing the excellence and vitality of major Montréal arts organizations–with Montréal’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
In 2018, The 7 Fingers will open its own Creation and Production Centre in the heart of Montreal’s entertainment district – Le Quartier des spectacles. There, the collective will centralize all its activities under the same roof in a venue that will host both turnkey and custom-designed events that reflect The 7 Fingers’ distinctive image and culture.
Triptyque is on stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre (27 Front St E), from November 15 - 19 (Media night: November 15 – 8:00pm). Performances run Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8:00pm, Friday at 7:00pm, with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 1:00pm. Tickets from $39 to $99 are available online, by phone at 416.368.3110, or in person at the Berkeley Street box office. For details, visit canadianstage.com/online/triptyque
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About Triptyque
On stage at the Bluma Appel Theatre, November 15 - 19
Media night: Wednesday, November 15 -8 pm
A Les 7 Doigts De La Main production presented by Canadian Stage
Photo: Nocturnes. ©2017 Alexandre Galliez.
2017-10-13
Toronto: Canadian Stage presents "Triptyque", a fusion of circus and dance, November 15-19