Contemporary circus troupe to visit Penn State

Contemporary circus troupe Flip FabriQue will be coming to Eisenhower Auditorium on Oct. 11 to perform its show “Catch Me!”

“Catch Me!” is an acrobatic show that captures the true meaning of relationships while performing gravity defying stunts.

“(The show) features high level acrobatics tied in with humor and high jinx,” said Laura Sullivan, marketing and communications manager for the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State.

Although the show is about friendships and relationships, it is not just an act.

“The fact that they grew up together and are real-life friends gives them an element. Because of the very real friendship it gives a sense that they are there having fun. They know each other intimately and you can feel that,” said Amy Dupain Vashaw, audience and program development director for the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State.

Four out of the seven performers have known each other for the past 15 years and met at circus school in Quebec, Canada.

“We’re friends,” Flip FabriQue co-founder Bruno Gagnon said. “It brings a nice powerful energy. ... (The audience) feels part of the group.”

The show features “circ-tacular tricks” that make “you realize how reliant on each other and how in tune they are with each other,” said Dupain Vashaw, who also shared that the show will feature a “trampowall.” The trampowall is a façade of a building that the acrobats use to jump off of.

“We’re going to scare you with the heights we bring,” Gagnon said.

The Center for the Performing Arts has a strategic goal to be among the top presenters of contemporary circus in the nation.

“We love it and think it has a place here. The artists that perform it are highly trained and unbelievably skilled. We take our support of contemporary circus very seriously,” Dupain Vashaw said.

Gagnon hopes that the show will encourage their audience to be playful and remain young at heart.

“Keep playing. Juggle balloons, it’s fun. Keep their kids’ playfulness even though we are all business. To gather with friends and play with balls, it’s fun,” Gagnon said.

Dupain Vashaw agreed.

“Anyone who is in the mood to celebrate friendships, we invite you,” she said.

Sullivan hopes the audience will come out of the show holding on to the fun.

“You don’t have to think or study, it’s pure joy. Families, children, students, the young at heart; it’s fun for everyone,” she said.

This story was originally published October 5, 2017 at 9:27 AM with the headline "Contemporary circus troupe to visit Penn State."