TRACES

TRACES UK Tour

Traces puts on a dazzling show (www.thisishullandeastridings.co.uk)

Wednesday, March 03, 2010, 06:30

It doesn't sound like the most promising of evenings: five friends gathered in a bunker before the end of the world.

But first impressions can be misleading.

Traces, performed by the French-Canadian company The Seven Fingers, is one of the most exuberant piece of theatre you'll see all year.

It's an extraordinary mix of contemporary dance, acrobatics, music and imagination.

It's nothing like a variety show. But then again, it's nothing like anything else either.

The production, part of which was staged at last year's Royal Variety Performance, has stopped off at Hull New Theatre.

And despite the apocalyptic premise, the company's playfulness is evident from the moment you walk into the theatre.

A camera, set up in the foyer, beamed live images of the arriving audience on to the back of the stage.

Some acted up - one person did a forward roll across the carpet, another couple began waltzing.

It was an infectious mood, carried on by the ironic announcements over the tannoy: "Exits are everywhere," the voice intoned. "Because something terrible could happen at any moment."

What did happen was a dazzlingly complex series of choreographed dances and stunts - performed to an eclectic sound-track of rock, dance and jazz.

Staged in a stylishly battered set - including a piano built from packing boxes - the company more than lived up to its name. Taken from a French phrase "The five fingers of the hand" - meaning the way that a series of individual elements make up a whole - the dancers who make up The Seven Fingers meshed together seamlessly.

There was a graceful dance on skateboards - which merged into a series of stunts in which the dancers, one on roller-blades, leapt over one another.

Two Chinese poles at the back of the stage were used for some eye-popping stunts - including the dancers, with their legs wrapped around the pole, plummeting head first towards the stage.

The stand-out sequences saw Antoine Carabinier-Lepine rolling and spinning around the stage inside a Cyr Wheel - imagine a huge hoola-hoop - and a spectacular finale in which the cast leapt, both forwards and backwards, through a tower of hoops.

Other reviews...

...A spellbinding performance that seamlessly mashes together circus skills, dance, acrobatics and theatre

The 7 fingers kick off their first ever UK tour in Scotland with enough energy to power the city for a year. The production creates perfection... an exhilarating programme that has to be witnessed to be believed

Lindsay Corr/ Edinburgh Guide 5*

Traces is quite simply a joy to watch and a celebration of the energy and spirit possible in life.

Fantastic! Refreshing! Great! All responses heard from spectators - along with spontaneous applause throughout the show, and cheers, gasps and laughter from children and adults alike.

Danielle Farrrow/ TV Bomb 4*

The final gymnastic display of lives literally hanging in the balance leaves the audience gasping in awe

Neil Cooper/The Herald 3*

Throughout the show, the agility, strength and sheer guts shown by the five performers never ceases to amaze. For some, this will be nothing more than a distraction from the intelligent and innovative leaps, tumbles and death-defying pole slides. For me, it made the whole show more personal - these were not performing monkeys trained to go through the motions, but real people with real personalities. It was the superhuman made human