BWW Reviews: High Energy TRACES Leaves Indelible Mark at ArtsEmerson

Traces

Produced by Les 7 Doigts de la Main

Direction and Choreography, Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider; Acrobatic Coach, Sébastien Soldevila

On Stage: Lucas Boutin, Hou Kai, LJ Marles, Diego Rodarte-Amor, Fletcher Sanchez, Renaldo Williams, Naomie Zimmermann-Pichon

Touring Team: Tour Director, Anna Cassel; Technical Director and Lights, Olivier Rosa; Sound: Sébastien Marion; Rigging, Alexandre Balcer

Creation Team: Lights, Nol Van Genuchten; Costumes, Manon Desmarais; Set & Props Original Design, Flavia Hevia; Set & Props Adaptation, Music & Soundscape, Les 7 Doigts de la Main; Video, Les 7 Doigts de la Main, Paul Ahad (Media FX) & André Biron (NEO6); Props Adaptation, Bruno Tassé

Presented by ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage; Performances through October 12 at Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont Street, Boston, MA; Box Office 617-824-8400 or www.artsemerson.org

Les 7 doigts de la main (translated literally as "the 7 fingers of the hand") makes a high-flying return to the Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre to open the fifth season of ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage with Traces, an energetic mix of acrobatics, skateboarding, basketball, and contemporary dance set to an eclectic musical score. Directed and choreographed by Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider, two of 7 Fingers co-founders, the much-traveled show was created in 2006 in Montreal and has been seen almost 1600 times before 900,000 people in 25 countries and 200 cities around the world. If you have never experienced this troupe during their previous visits to Boston (Psy, Sequence 8), now would be a good time to remedy that situation.

Traces takes place on an almost bare stage with big white sheets serving as a backdrop and side curtains, meant to suggest a make-shift shelter where the cast of characters fully live their last moments as an unknown catastrophe awaits outside. Hoping to defy destruction, they focus on creating and expressing, employing music, song, dance, speech, illustration, and high-risk acrobatics. While this premise is the framework for the performance, it takes a back seat to the cohesive collaboration and constant movement that brings visual magic to the stage, generating oohs and aahs from the audience with each new delightful or stunning feat.

Each of the seven amazingly talented young artists - Lucas Boutin, Hou Kai, LJ Marles, Diego Rodarte-Amor, Fletcher Sanchez, Renaldo Williams, and Naomie Zimmermann-Pichon - has a story to tell and gets their individual turn in the spotlight, showcasing their special skills. There are far too many highlights to list them all, but a sampling must include an emotional contemporary pas de deux by Williams and Zimmermann-Pichon, Rodarte-Amor's complex spins in a Cyr wheel, Sanchez's teeterboard launch into airborne tumbling, and Kai's persistent attempts to leap through a tower of hoops. With seemingly endless energy and a healthy dose of humor, as a group they zip around on skateboards, perform a basketball round robin routine, and challenge each other to "top that" on side-by-side Chinese poles, and make it all look so easy that we could do it (NOT!).

One of the things that makes Traces a joy to watch is how much the troupe enjoys performing and the pleasure they take in watching each other. There is palpable camaraderie and support for the others' efforts, even if someone feigns excessive pride or, in the case of Kai's hoop jumping, needs a do-over. Taking a cue from their actions, the audience rooted even harder for him to finally get it right...and he did. Les 7 doigts de la main endeavor to leave some traces of their existence through multiple means of expression. At the end of ninety minutes, their footprints are all over the stage and their stories indelibly stamped in our minds.

Photo credit: Larry Rosenberg, Michael Meseke

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