By: Samuel Larochelle / HuffPost Quebec
(NOTE: This article was originally published in French. It has been translated into English using Google Translate. As such, there may be some errors in translation.)
From the first second, our hearts were conquered. From the first dance movements, our bodies wanted to party until the early morning. From the first notes, our memory opened the box dedicated to the Colocs, in this way they had to break the barracks, to their incomparable analysis of society, to the dozens of songs that have marked our history, and to the voice of Dédé, whose boredom we have not finished. Let it be said: the show Just a Little Night (“Juste une p’tite nuite”) is electrifying, touching and in every way memorable.
If you have not seen Cirque du Soleil’s tributes to Beau Dommage, Robert Charlebois and the world of Luc Plamondon over the last three summers, hurry up and buy your tickets for the new grandiloquent show presented in the Cogeco amphitheater in Trois-Rivières. This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful productions of the year in the province, all forms of art combined.
The opening number puts the table to perfection: on the tunes of Puck’s mummy, a group of dancers and acrobats, dressed in grunge clothes straight out of the 1990s, perform with a passion and a indisputable charisma. While the first occupy the scene with a few touches of gumboots, giving us the impression that the show has been running for months, the others enjoy themselves by launching a two-storey structure and twirl on the trampoline wall casually.
Driven by the music of the Colocs, rearranged in a great way by Jean-Phi Goncalves, who never betrays the band’s signature, nor the voice of André Fortin, the performers show a contagious intensity.
In addition to knowing how to make the party, the artists of the show, staged masterfully by Jean-Guy Legault, are also able to convey the darkness of some of the group’s works.
We first think of “Belzébuth”, launched by a melancholic harmonica: the song evokes a man who compares himself to a cat and wants to escape with the wings of a bird, while an acrobat runs between the sky and earth on a Chinese mast. We also remember “Juste une p’tite nuite”, which resonates as a man and a woman deliver a languorous and mysterious duet on the hoop, like two lovers who do not know if they still want one of the other nor how to leave. We still have pretty pictures of acrobats swinging on Russian swings to fly up, up, up in the air, while “La comète” cradles our ears.
That said, we must absolutely express the overwhelming character of two other numbers.
When you hear Dede humming Get out of here , telling the urgency of giving a distressed friend a helping hand, two men perform a hand-technically hands-on number that is moving with strength and grace . Later in the evening, an acrobat makes a suspended lamp his acrobatic tool. While one is moved by the words of the Answering Machine , he tries to reach the light, lets himself be crushed by this star that obsesses him, hangs on him and whirls in all directions, as if he danced with life. and with death. A number that touches the sublime.
From one painting to the other, the interpreters wear a jacket or a shirt with a core, as if they were witnessing the life of Dede and the Colocs. The symbol perfectly illustrates the collaboration, cohesion, synchronicity and extreme joie de vivre shared by the 27 artists on stage.
We feel the strength of the 10 dancers, kind of street warriors, on the rhythms of “Atrocetomique”. We discover with pleasure the nonchalance of the guys and girls who tumble during “Bon yeu”. We salute the ingenuity of the one waiting for death, hung by bungee threads, enveloped by the sadness of “Dehors novembre”. We love the candid character of the juggling act, original and surprising, while “Dédé” resonates. We are completely fascinated by the girl and her colleagues who give a new definition to the phrase «jouer à la corde à danser», while Juliewe plunge back into a crowd of happy memories. And we really want to join the troupe on stage during “La rue principale”, a fun section that would make anyone who still has a heart smile.
In short, a total success.
{ SOURCE: HuffPo QC }
