Show must go on for Montréal Complètement Cirque, despite heat wave
Festival's inception and continued success a 'tour de force' for the community, says director
Montreal is in the throes of a heat wave, but the show must go on for the sweaty performers at Montréal Complètement Cirque — the city's annual circus festival hosts its first outdoor shows, starting at 5 p.m today.
Humidex values in the city will reach between 40 and 45 C, but Australian performer Amie Patching said she doesn't mind.
"I'm kind of used to that — being hot and sticky," she said.
She's one of 30 performers in Phénix, a twice nightly, free outdoor show at Jardins Gamelin, located outside Berri-UQAM Metro.
The circus festival runs until July 15 and brings performers from around the world to Montreal.
Most of the programming is contemporary circus — a style that incorporates performance elements like narrative, comedy and acrobatics.
Along with venue shows, there are free and interactive pieces in public spaces every day.
Most notably, St-Denis Street between Sherbrooke and Ste-Catherine streets will become an open air circus, says festival director Nadine Marchand.
The road to international hotspot
Montréal Complètement Cirque is fairly young, having launched in 2010. It's a team effort between the heavy hitters in Montreal's circus landscape: TOHU, Cirque Éloize, Les 7 doigts de la main, Cirque du Soleil, the National Circus School and En Piste.
"It was a great show of force for the circus community," Marchand said of the festival's inception.
Marchand previously worked for Montreal's Théâtre du Nouveau Monde and was contacted by the TOHU in 2009 to help create the festival from scratch.
"There was nothing there, there was a blank sheet. It was very, very exciting," she said.
But it hasn't always been recognized as an art, and it took industry teamwork to further its standing in the eyes of the government and audiences.
Over the past 20 years, local circus artists successfully lobbied Montreal, Quebec and the federal government to acknowledge circus as an art worthy of the financial support other disciplines receive.
On Thursday, the provincial government affirmed its commitment to circus arts with a $3-million investment.
"We are right to be very proud of this environment, bubbling with creativity and daring, and all the talent that abounds here," Culture Minister Marie Montpetit said.
What to see this year
That united front which has seen circus funded by the that also has driven the success of Montréal Complètement Cirque.
The festival takes its community spirit to a larger stage by hosting mixers where newer companies can meet programmers from around the world who may be interested in buying their shows.
"We want the festival to be a showcase," Marchand said.
Acts come from around the world to perform. Australian-made Backbone is one of the shows Marchand is particularly excited to see.
She also said the world premiere of Les 7 doigts de la main's Sisters is generating a lot of excitement.
For one of the collective's co-founders, Gypsy Snider, working on the show has been an opportunity to showcase the kind of creativity, sensitivity and emotions circus is capable of, and to reconnect with old friends.
The show features Ayin de Sela and Miriam de Sela on stage, with music from their late sister Lhasa de Sela, who died in of breast cancer in 2010.
Snider attended the same high school in San Francisco with them and said that she and the de Selas' had strangely similar childhoods — their parents both got the idea to refit old school buses they could live and travel in.
She has fond memories of being part of a creative family in San Francisco in the 1970s.
"I grew up in an era where art was about making the world a better place," she said.
Snider's parents were also the founders of the Pickle Family Circus, which is credited with the renewal of American circus — a format that doesn't include animals or a three-ring layout.
Snider said Sisters is interesting because it showcases a female-driven narrative and performers over 40.
"I so wanted to work with circus performers of a certain age who don't rely on tricks," she said.
Montréal Complètement Cirque runs from July 5 to 15 in venues and public areas across the city. For programing and more information, click here.
With files from Radio-Canada's Melanye Boissonnault