Running at the Peacock Theatre from 9 June to 12 July, The 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts de la Main) is one of the world’s most inventive contemporary circus companies. Its production TRACES is critically acclaimed, following previous success, now being presented for London audiences. With the company hailing from Québec, this is renowned as the home of modern circus disciplines.
In TRACES, the cast combines traditional acrobatic forms with street elements, mixed with theatre and contemporary dance. The show takes place in a make-shift shelter, an unknown catastrophe waiting outside the doors. In the face of an impending disaster they have determined that creation is the only antidote to destruction. Performance skills include tumbling through hoops, scaling Chinese poles and balancing seemingly effortlessly on each others’ heads, to basketball, skateboarding and playing classical piano.
TRACES redefines the art of circus. It is a poetic, humorous and thoughtful form, and with the use of film clips, narration and a range of music from rock ‘n’ roll to blues and hip hop. First performed in 2006, TRACES has gone on to be performed over 1,700 times in 23 countries. The show has featured as a part of The Royal Variety Performance, played at the Union Square Theater in New York for a year and has won multiple awards.
It is now being presented at the Peacock, as part of Sadler’s Wells. Sadler’s Wells is a world leader in dance, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the very best international and UK dance to the stage. The theatre’s year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap. Since 2005 it has helped to bring over 90 new dance works to the stage and its international award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour the world.