Press Release: The 7 Fingers: TRACES, Peacock Theatre, 9 June - 12 July 2015

[Jan McNulty]

The 7 Fingers
TRACES
The Peacock Theatre, WC2
Tuesday 9 June – Sunday 12 July
Performances: Tue – Sat at 7.30pm, Sat Mat at 2.30pm, Sun at 2pm & 6pm
Tickets: £15 - £38, Under 16s half price
Ticket Office: 0844 412 4322 or www.sadlerswells.com

 

Hailing from Québec, renowned as the home of the modern circus discipline, The 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts de la Main) is one of the world’s most inventive contemporary circus companies. After success with its previous show Sequence 8, the company returns to the Peacock Theatre with the critically acclaimedTRACES from Tuesday 9 June – Sunday 12 July 2015.

 

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 of tarp and gaffer tape. 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. In 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, TRACES redefines the art of circus.

 

First performed in 2006, TRACES has gone on to be performed over 1700 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.  

 

Founded in Montreal in 2002, The 7 Fingers began as artists on stage and soon branched out, expanding their creative talents as directors, choreographers, writers and coaches, passing on their collaborative and unique 7 Fingers process to a new generation of circus artists. The company name Les 7 Doigts de la Main, translates to the 7 Fingers of the Hand - a twist on a French idiom the five fingers of the hand used to describe distinct parts united tightly, moving in coordination towards one common goal. For the company, it refers to their 7 founding directors, Isabelle Chassé, Shana Carroll, Patrick Léonard, Faon Shane, Gypsy Snider, Sébastien Soldevila and Samuel Tétreault who, by combining their distinct talents and experiences, work towards their common artistic goals with the beautifully awkward dexterity of a 7-fingered hand.

 

 

 

Notes to Editors:

Listings information

The 7 Fingers
TRACES
The Peacock Theatre, WC2
Tuesday 9 June – Sunday 12 July 2015 
Performances: Tue – Sat at 7.30pm, Sat Mat at 2.30pm, Sun at 2pm & 6pm
Tickets: £15 - £38, Under 16s half price
Ticket office: 0844 412 4322 / www.sadlerswells.com

 

About Sadler’s Wells

Sadler's Wells is a world leader in contemporary dance, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding the theatre’s acclaimed 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. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 appointed world class Associate Artists, three Resident Companies and an Associate Company and nurtures the next generation of talent through its National Youth Dance Company, Summer University programme, Wild Card initiative and its New Wave Associates.

 

Located in Islington in north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells.

Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 9% of its revenue from Arts Council England.