Take the energy of a small nuclear explosion and add the attitude of a stroppy teenager, and you have ID, the latest from Canada's Cirque Éloize. With its pulsating soundtrack and buzzy multimedia visuals – including 3D projections – it's not the kind of show to visit if you feel a migraine coming on; the skill and excitement levels are sky-high. It mixes circus and urban dance to cracking effect; there's even some inline skating and trial-bike tricks thrown in for good measure.
The show claims to explore the idea of identity among the tribes of the city, a place that is sometimes futuristic and sometimes ancient, sometimes sinister and at others dreamy. It begins very promisingly with a brilliantly fresh hand-to-hand sequence, which is followed by Chinese pole in a scene that has shades of West Side Story and plenty of rumble. But artistic director Jeannot Painchaud soon settles for wow factor over narrative and meaning, and by the time we get to the exhilarating trampowall sequence at the end, all pretence that this is anything other than a spectacle has been entirely forgotten.
Who cares, though, because it's terrific, often frenzied fun, and what makes this interesting is the way it marries different skills and disciplines in beguiling ways. Contortion suddenly gets an extra edge when it meets breakdancing, and there is a fabulous straps act that becomes a duel between air and ground. A woman gets the better of a man when she takes off skywards in an aerial hoop act. This isn't a subtle show, but it fizzes and thrills with infectious energy, skill and self-belief.
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