Isaac Newton, when devising the theory of gravity, did not anticipate Quebec’s circus troupe, Flip FabriQue and their famous trampo-wall routine.
For the past six years, their show ‘Attrape Moi! (Catch Me!)' has bounced across thirty cities in seven countries. Through the universal language of physical movement, the sextet of acrobats conveys a story of friendship that will resonate with audiences of every age, Artistic Director Bruno Gagnon says.
There is something ineffably special about the bonds formed between friends at school. Fellow travellers on the same torturous journey of self-discovery can relate to each other in ways that outsiders cannot. The half-dozen performers who comprise Flip FabriQue studied together at the revered school École de cirque de Québec, and while they drifted apart for a time, the magnetic pull of friendship brought them together again. 'Catch Me!', as a fable about a school reunion, is then a synthesis of fiction and reality.
Although the show is replete with all manner of familiar disciplines, such as juggling and trapeze, it is their towering amalgam of trampoline and wall, the trampo wall, that Bruno guarantees will leave even the grumpiest circus cynic gaping in amazement.
Image © Alexandre Galliez
“It’s the grand finale; it’s the final act. It’s the act that everybody cannot not be caring about what’s going on. The people are falling from 16 feet tall; it’s six metres high and you’re bouncing off the wall! So even somebody that says I don’t like acrobatics or circus is not my thing, they will have reactions, they will have emotions.”
For a little over a decade, as Bruno explains, this new circus discipline has steadily and spectacularly evolved.
“I’d like to tell you that we had created it but we didn’t. It’s probably been done in China before but La Nouba has probably been the main promotor of this discipline 15 years ago and now we can see a new wave in circus schools around the world who are actually and artists are mastering this discipline and it has grown so much technically.”
Bruno warns that taking such risks requires an intensely disciplined mind.
Image © Mark Gavin
“You have to know everybody is focused; if you drop fifth, you have to drop fifth, not number four because if you drop at the same time as somebody else, you’re going to bounce off and you’re going to get ejected and big injury can happen. We have our numbers, we have our routine and even in a charismatic show, we have to remain focused, especially in the trampo-wall.”
The show is proudly promoted as being family friendly but Bruno says that the production was deliberately designed to transcend age barriers.
“When we created the show six years ago, people asked me so who is it for, is it for kids or is it for adults and I always tell them that it’s for 7 to 77 years of age because indeed we do touch childhood, we do touch nostalgia; not sadness, but you won’t be surprised if you drop a tear during the trapeze act but then burst out laughing with the sleeping bag act but then be amazed by the trampolinist, so we really touch all the generations.”
