FEATURE: Seven facts about The 7 Fingers, September 2021

 

Creative circus company The 7 Fingers will thrill audiences in Milton Keynes with performances of Passagers on 24 and 25 September.

The Canadian collective, which merges acrobatics and physical skills with dance, multimedia, music and storytelling, is the first company to be presented by Dance Consortium since before the pandemic.

Here are seven things you might not know about The 7 Fingers.

 

 

1. The 7 Fingers was founded in Canada in 2002 by seven circus artists who united to redefine what circus can achieve as an art form.

 

2. The name is a play on the French expression les cinq doigts de la main (‘the five fingers of the hand’). It represents the seven founders’ intention to maintain their individuality while creating as a collective.

 

3. The ‘founding fingers’ specialised in swinging and static trapeze, clowning, hand-to-hand partner acrobatics, aerial chains, aerial silk contortion, knife-juggling, diabolo and hand balancing. They combined these outlandish skills with contemporary dance, drama and singing.

 

4. Productions vary from intimate one-man shows to large-scale arena performances, immersive experiences and special events. Most recently, you might have seen the collective’s artistic acrobatics in action during the UEFA Euro 2020 launch.

 

5. The 7 Fingers’ long list of accolades includes four Tony awards.

 

6. The nine performers in the cast of Passagers come from four different continents and four different countries: Argentina, Canada, France and South Africa.

 

7. The 7 Fingers has performed to 7 million people by visiting 936 theatres in 672 cities in 54 countries. As the second venue on this season’s UK tour, Milton Keynes Theatre will become number 938 on the list of theatres visited!

 

*Production photography by Alexandre Galliez.

 

 

The 7 Fingers performs Passagers at Milton Keynes Theatre on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 September at 7.30pm.

 

Passagers UK Tour 2021:

Birmingham Hippodrome (21 and 22 September)

Milton Keynes Theatre (24 and 25 September)

Hull New Theatre (28 September)

Brighton Dome (30 September and 1 October)

Royal Concert Hall Nottingham (5 and 6 October)

Theatre Royal Plymouth (11 and 12 October)

 

Learn more by visiting The 7 Fingers website.

 

Update 25 September 2021: Read my review of The 7 Fingers’ Passagers at Milton Keynes Theatre.

 

 

Georgina Butler is an editor, a dance writer and a ballet teacher.