The other Cirque on tour

By GILBERT WONG Arts editor

Their name begins with Cirque and they're from French Canada. But Cirque Eloize, a headline act at the Taranaki Festival of the Arts next month, are as determinedly fringe as Cirque du Soleil is solidly mainstream.

A success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Cirque Eloize are, like their big brother, part of the new face of the circus.

There are no animals; there is a solid injection of theatre and a certain postmodern sense of playing with the tawdry glamour and outsider image of circuses past.

Founded by a group of circus performers who hailed from the tiny Magdalen Islands off the Quebec coast, Cirque Eloize named themselves after a local dialect word that means flash of lightning.

And, yes, several of the 15-strong troupe are veterans of Cirque du Soleil and graduates of Montreal's Circus School.

With those common linkages, comparisons are inevitable, but both would no doubt regard them as invidious.

There is the basic difference of scale and what is, judging from their reviews from Edinburgh, an intimate and emotional experience.

Cirque Eloize open in Taranaki, but will tour Auckland and Wellington later in the year.

* More details on the extensive programme can be found on www.taranakifest.org.nz