Lackluster opening of Grec 2025

The Greek 2025 It began on Thursday in the Montjuïc chamber with the premiere of a French proposal that combines dance, music and circus from a creator who has visited the festival twice with well-rehearsed shows: Minute (2018) and Celuy who knocks down(2023). But world premieres are dangerous. Even more so if, as we have learned, the production has been through many nerves upon its entry into the Grec. While this one The Little Circus It has some rather attractive poetic and visual ingredients that give a glimpse of what the show might be like in the future (once it has made its way to the road and revisited the connector and rhythm issues that were evident at Montjuïc), the truth is that the opening performance was rather lackluster, as evidenced by the brief and muffled applause.

It's a shame, because Yoanne Bourgeois's previous visits to the Mercat de les Flors (a theatre where the new creation would have had the intimacy it demands) had been very attractive and well-coordinated, developing a visual theatre anchored in contemporary circus and a dance that always plays with dance. The Little Circus It has the soul of a circus, with a round wooden track that rotates, challenging the dancers' balance, and aerial dance. The show follows the work of the Bourgeois couple with the contribution of an emerging French singer, little known among us, who lends voice to a very beautiful score thanks above all to the virtuosity of the string quartet, a true protagonist alongside the excellent dancer-acrobats.

What's missing? Well, an overall idea, a direction that works on the connectors between scenes and the finishing touches of some, such as the humorous game about the fisherwoman who gets caught. It also wouldn't have been bad if the projections of the lyrics of "Pomme" had been visible. Two other things. One: despite being advertised as a family show for audiences 8 and up, I wouldn't recommend it. They'll be bored. Two: don't we have artists at home to open the Grec?