2023-08-24 07:22:00
From this Thursday, the Knie arrives in French-speaking Switzerland with an impressive machinery allowing waterfalls, falls and other aquatic effects. Spectacular and symbolic of the evolutions of the circus.
For a long time, the circus functioned on two living forces combining muscles, prowess and skill: humans and animals. The former are acrobats, trapeze artists, tightrope walkers, cyclists, clowns, jugglers, musicians and trainers, not forgetting the track boys, whom we always thank at intermission. The others have become a bare minimum in circuses.
At the Knie, it’s still the horses, a family tradition of our national circus. Sometimes a pony, a llama or a dog comes to mingle with the stud farm, but the wild animals are no longer on the trip and the elephants now live a peaceful retirement in their sedentary neighborhood in Rapperswil.
All that to say that a third actor has just carved out a lion’s share in the new Knie tour: the machinery. With its shows where scenography and staging take precedence over acrobatic exploits, Cirque du Soleil has launched a dynamic towards the ever more spectacular. In Switzerland, Knie is no exception.
Colombian Globe of Speed bikers in the Knie 2023 show. [Georgios Kefalas – Keystone]
Under the sign of water
In 2021, the Knie was all fire, literally and figuratively, with an incredible pyrotechnic device that transformed the show into an American hard rock show. This year, the tour is placed under the sign of water with an installation making it possible to create effects of aquatic tunnel and waterfall magnified by a play of light. It’s Las Vegas under a marquee. The comparison is not usurped.
Developed by a French company and adapted to the specific needs of a touring circus, this “Aqua Graphic” was notably used during Celine Dion’s concert series during her stay at Caesars Palace in Vegas. Stunning results and the audience stunned by this cascade of visual effects.
No wonder the Knie now needs several days to set up its entire installation from town to town. Add to that the metal grid ball of the Colombian bikers of the Globe of Speed, the complete bike stunt terrain of Ordonez Freestyle BMX (also a Colombian troupe) and the orchestra playing on a stage supported by hydraulic jacks so to hoist it up to let these XXL attractions pass.
The tradition lives on
The risk in the long term is that these fabulous effects take precedence over the circus exploits, which always remain of a very high level in the Knie, whether they are high-flying acts, prowess on the Chinese mast, wheel Cyr, contortionist ballets or even elegant aerial rope duets.
To breathe life into this show set to the nanosecond, nothing like the equestrian number which reveals a small (r)evolution of palaces that aficionados of the Knie dynasty will not fail to note: Géraldine and her husband Maycol are more discreet on the side behind the scenes, Fredy Knie JR stays in the paddock and it is Yvan Frédéric Knie who is maneuvering once morest an impressive group of horses (26, 30? We lose count in front of this whirlwind of manes) where we find the latest generation , Chanel and Maycol JR in the saddle. The future is on the trail and the tradition lives on.
Maycol Junior in Cirque Knie’s 2023 show. [Michael Buholzer – Keystone]
Thierry Sartoretti/ld
Cirque Knie on tour: in Friborg from August 24 to 27, Geneva from September 1 to 17, Nyon from September 22 to 24, Lausanne from September 29 to October 15, Vevey from October 19 to 22, Sion from October 26 to 29, 2023 .
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#Cirque #Knie #humans #horses #machines #rts.ch
