If you’ve ever looked at a field of unbroken snow and wanted to run across it, or a blank piece of paper and wanted to color it, La Galerie is absolutely the circus show for you. Though the set is minimalist, you can’t mistake the pure white posh gallery aesthetic, nor the behavior of the seven circus performers, who begin the show ‘politely’ shoving each other out of the way to get a good look at the imaginary art.
A beautiful work of skill and composition.
La Galerie was at its best when it cleaved to the conceit of the gallery. Pushing, twirling, and lifting each other to get a look at the art; jumping and flipping over and around scansions trying to cut to the front of the line; and integrating the fast-paced hand raising and calling common to acrobatics and high stakes auctions were all brilliantly choreographed acts that perfectly married the skill of the company with a sense of the real world. One of the highlights of the evening was a flawless group juggling routine, where the clubs were set out like sculptures before being grabbed and thrown by various company members.
For much of the second half, however, the frame noticeably loosened as the company almost and quiteliterally went through the looking glass into a sort-of fantasy world, which seemed to serve the main purpose of allowing for larger and more impressive apparatuses, such as a German wheel, a Russian bar (held on the shoulders of two performers and used as a combination trampoline/balance beam by others), and a see-saw. While the performances using these apparatuses were both fun and skillfully executed, the sense of place that the first half so expertly established rapidly disappeared and was definitely missed. When the group returned to the gallery for the final set piece, it was both welcome and extremely well played.
Underscoring much of the show was a beautiful multi-instrumental performance by Lyne Goulet of original music by Marie-Hélène Blay. Goulet was effectively a one-woman jazz band and sometime emcee, especially in the fantastical setting. All together, La Galerie is a beautiful work of skill and composition.
