NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, December 18, 1995
| More about Cirque Eloize |
Without a tenant, a house is not a home. So today's pleasure is to report that the lovely New Victory Theater, which has done so much to restore 42d Street's historic soul, has taken in its very first boarder: a show with the sort of edgy energy and youthful pizazz that seem just right for a theater dedicated to the young and situated at the Crossroads of the World.
The Cirque Eloize, an eight-member- , Montreal-based troupe drawn from alumni of the city's Cirque du Soleil and Ecole Nationale de Cirque, will be clowning and cavorting at the New Victory through Dec. 31 under the direction of Pierre Boileau. Given its bloodlines, little wonder that the Cirque Eloize reveals itself as a blend of entertaining circus skills, brisk choreography, throbbing music, colorful costumes and dramatic- lighting that conjures a special realm: sometimes slightly futuristic, avant-garde and eerie, yet anchored deep in tradition.
Take, for example. the acrobatic clown named Boris (Roch Jutras), who delights children with a camera that squirts water, who enlists their help to hoist him on stage and is so grateful for their assistance that he hops right down again to thank them. Take Lise Lepine, who manages to be both funny and sexy as Boris's haughty foil and nemesis, Frances- ca.
When it comes to individual feats, Cirque Eloize can point with pride to Jeannot Painchaud, who turns a bi- cycle into a sensuous dance partner as he performs acrobatics to flamenco- co music. It can boast of Marc Gau- their. who climbs a thick rope that seems descended from heaven, coil- ing and looping it about him as he extends himself in balletic postures and hangs head down while the audi- ence holds its breath. And it can trumpet Daniel Cyr, who turns a two- legged ladder into the precarious platform for a winning display of gymnastics.
Besides these standout exhibitions of strength, control and equilibrium, the Cirque offers juggling (some problems on a recent night), balancing acts and more clowning (with a bit of audience participation) in the course of little more than an hour.
Fittingly for a multinational city like New York, the show unfolds in English, French and Spanish. It needs no translation. Cirque Eloize communicates in the universal langauge of fun.
Cique Eloize some of whose members are alumni of the Cique de Soleil. Cirque Eloize does not have the esthetic aspirations of it's erstwhile parent. Eloize's great strength is it's daredevil, roughneck muscularity.
Six of it's eight members are acrobats. They do conventional tumbling , juggling, and some stunning work on a bicycle. In a normal circus' bicycle acts, hinge on agility and uncanny balance, which these performers have in spades. Doing cycle work on a normal stage adds an extra thrill when they ride perilously close to the edge.
In addition to standard circus feats, they also have an imagination that is quite mind- boggling.
Daniel Cyr for example, does a remarkable balancing act using an unsupported ladder. Alain Boudreau does a frighteningly virtuosic act on a long silkin rope suspended from the wings but unsupported from below.
Critics are not supposed to betray our actual responses, but when you see work this adventurous and skillful you can't help yourself.
Cirque Eloize also has two clowns, whose work is very, very broad. I should mention that the children in the audience respond to their silly (and sometimes precisely choreographed) antics with great glee.
Circus is one of the most ancient and gripping of the performing arts.
It is a wonderful way to begin a new chapter in the life of a street whose decline and impending resurgence seems emblematic of the city itself.