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iD: THE SOUL OF THE CITY STREET

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The Montréal Review, September 2012

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iD FROM SEPTEMBER 20 TO OCTOBER 6 AT TOHU

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iD is a 90 minutes production of the internationally renowned Montreal based Cirque Éloize.

14 acrobats and dancers "plunge" the viewer into the dazzling life of the city streets as seen from the artistic perspective of the director Jeannot Painchaud and his team.

Divided in two parts, the show starts with urban dances--breakdance and hip-hop--and finishes with poetic air dancing on white veils followed by explosive trampoline acrobatics.

The impressive dynamism of the performance is reinforced with light effects, electronic music, and sceneries of city skylines and street-art murals.

The spectacle succeeds in magnifying the features of the modern city street: strangers and anonymity, love and competition, flirts and separations, unexpected encounters, reckless bicyclists, fighting city gangs... iD is an almost surreal distillation of the familiar sights and feelings we experience while walking the streets.

"I imagined this show at the heart of a futuristic city, where the omnipresence of image causes us to lose our reference points." says Jeannot Painchaud about the concept of the spectacle, "I sought to create an aesthetic at the crossroads of comic books, science-fiction movies and the rich universe of graffiti. The decidedly rock, electronic and poetic music, coupled with the presence of video, highlight the show's playful, energetic, youthful and urban aspects. In the middle of this surreal megalopolis exists a public place. A public place, as a spot where one can seek refuge and escape anonymity, to express one's individuality and affirm one's identity, in order to reclaim possession of public space, and to dance the city."

The spectacle received energetic and well-deserved applauses from the public after the end of the opening show on September 20th.

Montrealers and guests of the city can enjoy the show until October 6 at TOHU, 2345 Rue Jarry Est, Montreal.

For more information:

http://www.cirque-eloize.com/fr/spectacles/id

http://tohu.ca/en/home.html

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iD, Photo: Theatre T & Cie/Valerie Remise

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