Flying High with Cirque Flip Fabrique
Time to Read: less than 2 minutes
Born out of the friendship of a group of career circus performers, Cirque Flip Fabrique has quickly made a name for itself. With graceful aerial acrobatics and stunningly composed sets that blend seamlessly with the athletic prowess and precise choreography being displayed on stage, it’s no surprise that their latest creation Blizzard, has received rave reviews across the globe. It has been described as a “show of exquisite visual poetry” and “truly breathtaking.”
The Cirque Flip Fabrique troupe plays out a snowball fight on the stage, bringing the joys of winter indoors, where it’s warm.
Troupe founder Bruno Gagnon got his start in the circus in his early teens when his mother caught him doing flips off the roof of his house into the snow drifts in his yard. She sent him to circus school and seventeen years later, he’s a seasoned performer with his own troupe. “We had great careers on our own, but we said ‘how about we quit and start something together’. And it happened,” Bruno says about how Cirque Flip Fabrique began. “There’s a bit of scariness, but I knew it would work.”
Their first performance, Catch Me, premiered in 2011. It was inspired by the real life experience of the troupe members, and the life of a touring artist “being on tour and coming back, the idea of ‘catch you later’ and this thought of trying to see each other even though we’re away,” says Bruno. Like Catch Me, Blizzard was also inspired by life, but this time it was on a subject that is very familiar to most Canadians. While on tour, show director Olivier Normand realized that he was really missing Québec’s snow and being able to cuddle up when it’s cold outside. “There’s also all the childhood memories of playing in the snow when the school is closed and how much fun it was,” says Gagnon. “We thought there was a pretty fun show to build around those ideas and that became Blizzard.”
Blizzard mixes all of high-flying circus skill of Cirque Flip Fabrique’s members, with a beautiful world of snow, ice, and the occasional sprinkling of humour. Snowball fights turn into juggling feats of skill, and ice skating becomes a choreographed ballet of synchronized movement.
