For 11 days in July, the entire city of Montreal became a veritable three-ring circus during the annual Montréal Complètement Cirque. The event promoted, celebrated, and showcased circus arts in all forms, from tightrope walkers and death-defying acrobatics to human cannonballs and aerial ballet dancers. Over the course of the festival, dozens of events and performances were held in indoor and outdoor venues all over Montreal. This year marked the sixth year for the high-flying event.
"The most important thing for us is the outdoor programming," said Nadine Marchand, who helped create the festival and has been its director since its inception. "Outdoor programming has been extremely popular since the beginning, so we made sure to focus on expanding that aspect of the event."
This year, some of the outdoor performances started in one location, flash-mob-style, and pedestrians could follow the artists through the streets to the final venue. Nonprofessionals were even incorporated into the shows. The opening night's show, Duels, for example, included a troupe of 50 circus artists as well as 20 ordinary citizens who participated in the production. The people ranged in age from 14 to 65 and were chosen after auditioning, and they were able to practice and perform alongside the professionals.
As expected, with bigger showstoppers come bigger challenges. Circus programming carries an inherent risk of injury to the performers, and when the performances take place outside, that risk grows. Factors like foot traffic, unexpected noise, or weather can directly affect whether or not a performance even happens.
"We are very tight about safety measure. We have a strict protocol," Marchand said. "If the winds are too fast we won't put performers up too high in the air. We're very serious about that." With a jam-packed schedule and months of careful planning, the schedule is set. Thus, if a performance gets canceled, it is not rescheduled. In 2014, three shows were canceled due to rain that made the equipment too slippery for a performance. Fortunately, this year all shows happened as planned.
In total, the festival included almost 100 performances by 11 different companies.
