“It's a link between the new and the old circus. This show is presented with a contemporary circus dramaturgy, but we find, at times, the feeling of another world, which was before the new circus». This is how Giacomo Scalisi, one of those responsible for the project «till the sea», describes the show «Cirque Saison - The Circus Seasons», which the French company Cirque Aïtal brings to Monchique, for four nights and an afternoon, between December 28th and January 1st.
And here's just a warning: tickets for New Year's Eve are almost sold out, while the other presentations are already very well written. So, if you want to participate in what has become a year-end tradition, the new circus in Monchique, don't be late. "Anyone who wants to spend the end of the year with us has to be quick," warns Giacomo Scalisi.
“This is another phenomenon: at the beginning, December 31st was the hardest day to go through. But from the second year onwards, it is the first day to sell out. People realized that being with us at the end of the year, with the show, things to eat and drink, the circus band playing, is another way to experience the end of the year». And it is.
From year to year, the capacity of the circus tent set up on the Monchique helipad, as well as the number of days of the show, has been increasing. This year, the chapitô will seat 670 people, which will fill the four nights and one afternoon.
All the more so because the strength, humor and love that the Aïtal troupe will bring to Monchique will result in an hour and twenty of pure enchantment, which «combines the rigor of ancestral techniques with a contemporary dramaturgy and a contagious soundtrack».
But what is so special about these "Circus Stations"?
In an interview with Sul Informação, Giacomo Scalisi lifts the edge of the veil a little: «this show is by a French company called Cirque Aïtal. There are two people, Victor and Kati, he is very big, he is a giant, and she is very small. It is the typical formation of an acrobatic duo, where it is very light and travels at very high speeds and heights».
«Kati wears the clothes of a clown, but one clown very particular, that plays a lot in the difference of the bodies. Victor grabs Kati by one foot, puts her in the air. There is a dialogue from the point of view of the body and hand-in-hand acrobatics».
“For many years, the two have performed in shows around the world and, last year, they decided to have a great adventure: they built a new big hat and brought together, in one show, a number of artists they had met throughout the way, on these itineraries all over the world».
«What they wanted was to talk about the circus: the new circus, the traditional circus, the connection that these circuses can have. And so this “Saison de Cirque – Cirque Stations” was born, which are really stations from the meteorological point of view, where it rains, snow, storms, and a little bit of sun», stresses Giacomo.
But "there are also numbers that are not typical of the new contemporary circus." There is one, in particular, brought to Monchique by “a Russian family, who come from Ukraine, and who have this specialty of the “Russian bar”. It is a strip of wood, supported on the shoulders of two giants, on top of which the acrobats do somersaults and fall onto this bar, which will be eight or eight inches wide, no more. It's an age-old number».
Then, as always in the circus, there is the “juggler, who can do amazing things”.
But all this «linked to an idea, that of showing what goes on behind the scenes, in the dressing room. There is a dressing room that moves to the edge of the track and shows what is happening behind». And so the audience can watch «the whole life of the circus: what happens on the dancefloor and what happens behind».
And there are also horses, which are two. «It's an acrobatic technique on horses», very «traditional, it's not Bestias». But, guarantees Giacomo Scalisi, «they are also horses that are interpreters, they themselves have names, they are in the cast. Here there is a relationship that is found between the male artist and the animal artist».
As for the acrobatic duo of Victor and Kati, who are the soul of the entire show, Giacomo, as an actor that he is and for more Italian, emphasizes that «this show reminds us of Fellini's “Clowns”, I think they were a little inspired Ouch".
The person responsible for the project till the sea guarantees that this is a show «completely different from the previous ones, dramaturgically different, with very poetic scenes».
All this, insists Giacomo, “in a contemporary circus dramaturgy. That's what makes it interesting: entering the traditional circus, but with a completely different vision».
Tickets for the show «Saison de Cirque – The Circus Seasons», presented by the French troupe Cirque Aïtal on December 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st, always at 21 pm, and also on January 00st, at 1 pm, they cost 17 euros for the general public and 00 euros for children up to 10 years old.
Tickets can be purchased at Bol in https://lavraromar.bol.pt, and at participating points of sale (Fnac/Worten/…), as well as, in Monchique, at the Municipal Library, and in Aljezur, at Casa Lavrar o Mar, on Rua João Dias Mendes. The Municipality of Aljezur will make a bus available to the population to go to Monchique to see the circus.
Lavrar o Mar is a project integrated in the program 365 Algarve. Supported by Portugal and the European Union through CRESC ALGARVE 2020, the Directorate-General for Arts, the Municipality of Aljezur and the Municipality of Monchique.
Note: Listen this Wednesday, at 19 pm, the conversation that Giacomo Scalisi and Madalena Victorino had with the great interview program «Impressions», produced jointly by the Sul Informação and by Rádio Universitária do Algarve (FM STREET). Or see the interview, which we will soon publish in full, on video, here on Sul Informação.
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