Nerve-racking

The Centre Culturel in Ferrals is reconnecting with its audience after a difficult 18 months, by putting on small outdoor shows in various villages. The first one was Sabordages, in Saint André de Roquelongue, which is about a 20-minute drive away. It involved four acrobats; I normally enjoy acrobatic shows, but this one made me quite nervous for several reasons.

My blip is of the "easy" final part of the show: hula hoops. Earlier, the acrobats did tricks with pillars of wood of various lengths, including balancing on a timber over two metres tall  (extras). These are not attached in any way; they are just free-standing. 

I was just outside the circle they'd drawn round the stage; there were moments where I thought, "If that tall totem pole falls over, it's going to land on me!" One sequence involved three of the acrobats placing their colleague in awkward positions with his hands and feet balanced on posts, placing blocks of wood on top of him, and walking on them while wearing paper bags on their heads. It looked like a form of torture. At another point one of them tied a rope round the pole one of his colleagues was standing on and got an audience member to jerk it in order to make the pole collapse. I'm glad he didn't ask me! Obviously in a show like this you must have complete trust in your fellow performers, but their faces were often grim and closed.

Later they took their trousers off for some reason, and their smart shirts turned out to be romper suits with integrated knickers, so there were lighter moments, and their balance and composure was impressive. But there wasn't the joie de vivre I associate with circuses. Watch some of it if you dare!

It was a beautiful evening, and Saint-André, a place I rarely visit, turned out to have some impressive maisons de maître, and a few fabulous doors, looking gorgeous in the golden evening light. I may return!