The circus pendulum has swung full tilt from the days of P.T. Barnum, and The 7 Fingers, the mostly Canadian acrobatic troupe responsible for "Traces," is balanced right on top of it.
Time was when a traveling circus set up its tents in farming communities and small towns, bringing exotic animals, pageantry, spectacle and feats of strength and daring to poor, simple folk, at a low price. "Traces," which performs at the Stage Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex through May 14, has no animals whatsoever (though the skateboards are treated humanely), and goes out of its way to avoid any semblance of pageantry or spectacle. In fact, the production is intentionally colorless and drab. Even a piano, overstuffed chair and other furniture items are tricked out to look like they had been retrieved from a Dumpster.
All that's left are the feats of strength and daring, which are impressive, presented without frills, for a comparatively well-heeled audience in one of Denver's most prestigious theaters. Roles have been so thoroughly reversed that the traditional concourse "side show" entertainment is actually provided by the audience itself, as video images of patrons entering the theater are projected onto the main stage, to the amusement of fellow ticket-holders.
A few things are gained in this reactionary circus. We get to know the performers as actual people, or at least as the personas they choose to represent. They tell us their names, height, weight, and dominant traits. But it takes awhile for personalities to emerge naturally, as the stylized nature of the production requires them, for the first half hour, to glare somberly at the audience after performing a routine. It's a remedy for the phony smiles and poses of previous circuses, but is just as artificial. Eventually they relax a bit and we get a sense that they are actually having fun risking life and limb for our entertainment.
As to the actual acts, most of them are recognizable as variations from the canon of classical European and Chinese acrobatics: a teeter totter launches someone toward the rafters, an aerialist dangles precipitously from a strap, a balancing phenomenon twirls inside a large steel ring, others climb, leap and swing between two vertical poles, they take turns diving through hoops, a man balances on one hand atop a stack of chairs, and a woman does pretty much the same thing on the upraised hands of a strong man. More contemporary is a skateboard routine.
Transitions between the various acts reveal the true genius of "Tracers." Some of them appear to have been developed through improvisation, and bind the cast together as a tight, interdependent, and extraordinarily gifted ensemble. The mutual trust is obvious and inspiring, though I still don't like it when people plunge head first toward the floor, only to be stopped mere inches from injury.
"Tracers" is a "grunge" circus, aimed primarily at teens and young adults, who are too grown up for the "kids stuff" of traditional circuses, and unimpressed with the surreal and pretentious "Cirque" productions that are all the rage for middle-agers and the elderly in Las Vegas. The 7 Fingers is to the circus, what David Blaine is to illusionists.
Someday, some circus down the road will find a happy balance between gross excess and whittled-down simplicity. Until then, The 7 Fingers' "Traces" handily delivers the goods in a plain, gray wrapper.
"Traces" performs through May 14. Call 303-893-4100 for tickets, or visit www.denvercenter.org.
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