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Elizabeth Turner

Les Arts Sauts is a spectacle of live music, dizzying contortions and airborne ballet

TRAPEZE ARTISTS Les Arts Sauts are billed as one of the highlights of Le French May and, if the critics are to be believed, they have a lofty reputation to live up to.

The Washington Times said 'even the popular Cirque du Soleil doesn't stand up to this fearless troupe'.

Set up by friends in 1993, Les Arts Sauts' grand idea was to take trapeze out of its traditional context within the constraints of a circus and create a new set of thrills for audiences.

'In a 70-minute show they have time to share their emotions with the public and that is what gives them the energy to fly for more than an hour,' said Les Arts Sauts' spokesperson Caroline Gravel.

This is the group's second visit to Hong Kong (they performed their first untitled show here in 1996), and the last chance for those who missed them to catch them in action.

The artists feel they have achieved what they originally set out to do and so have have decided to stop, Ms Gravel said. 'We can't reinvent the trapeze.'

The 17 performers of Les Arts Sauts will stage Ola Kala ('Everything is OK') on a 12-metre high crosswire trapeze, complete with live music, dizzying contortions and aerial ballet.

Ola Kala delves deep into the pursuit of aesthetic airborne movement, where the body replaces speech in a theatrical milieu. This allows new techniques to emerge by reinventing the acting space around a crosswire trapeze.

According to the troupe, it is a spectacle of dazzling virtuosity, blending acrobatic and technical feats in an atmosphere of surreal and poetic elegance suffused with dizzying bravado.

'For Les Arts Sauts' trapeze artists, trapeze is a passion they want to share with people by giving different emotions to the audience,' Ms Gravel said.

'The technique is, of course, important, but they want to go beyond that by mixing technique, poetry, humour ... that is why it is a trapeze act and also aerial ballet.'

After more than 10 years working together, the troupe was keen to explore new ways of flying and new tricks.

'Flying in two axes is not the same as flying in only one,' Ms Gravel said. 'For the audience, trapeze in two axes means people coming from and going in many directions. They can never expect where it will come from and it is very exciting.'

Set inside an inflatable dome in Victoria Park, the show will see audiences reclining in deckchairs that provide an unobstructed view of the action high above their heads. Deckchairs were chosen so that audiences would feel comfortable watching a performance that takes place 14 metres above the ground.

'We wanted them to be in the best position possible to be the most open to receive what we want to share with them,' Ms Gravel said.

'Trapeze is a very intense discipline. There are moments in the show where it needs to be soft so people can take a little breath.'

Musical accompaniment comes in the form of cello, violin, guitar, bass and electronic samples,  as well as a lyricist.

Les Arts Sauts have performed almost 1,000 shows. Ola Kala is their third production.



Trapeze artists swing into action for last daring fling