Cirque Éloize has been traveling the globe for over a decade, performing a magical brand of circus artistry that draws on the big-top tradition - and yet is entirely original. This unique ensemble trades the tent for the theater with a show that combines time-honored circus acts with music, dance, theater, and performance in a new and exciting way.

Since their inception, this award-winning Canadian troupe has performed for more than three million spectators in more than 200 cities and 20 countries. Their shows serve up a visual and aural feast that's at once poetic, mystical, acrobatic and entertaining.

A WORD FROM JEANNOT PAINCHAUD, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND JULIE HAMELIN, CREATIVE PRODUCER

Rain is the logical next step following the achievement of Nomade – At night, the sky is endless. This production carries the unmistakable stamp of Daniele Finzi Pasca, director and creator, who has been given a free hand to take us further still along this extraordinary path of exploration. With the same creative team, totally committed to the venture, he delves ever deeper into the subject matter and the theatrical style that we have taken everywhere over the last ten years.

Because we work with artists of enormous sensitivity, we wanted to see into their eyes when they perform, we wanted to grasp their personalities, show their fragilities. Acrobats, musicians and actors all at the same time, every evening they place themselves in danger and show their vulnerability, rather than simply the assurance of skilled performers. These artists show us the depth of their souls, revealing even the pain that everyone carries inside.

With Daniele, we have found a true partner, a friend in art whose approach matches perfectly that of Cirque Éloize, taking our troupe further in its exploration of a different kind of theatrical, "Circassian" writing. Through the sensibility of such a guide, we dare to build yet a little more, before your eyes, tender moments of sweet madness and poetry, so we can touch you, stir your emotions and your thoughts.

The show Rain is built partly on nostalgia for childhood memories. Daniele Finzi Pasca, who continues to move audiences with his Teatro Sunil de Lugano shows, is able to communicate his unique sensitivity and link all the artists to something that goes beyond them. A magician fascinated by ritual, he gives the impression of knowing how to talk to the angels.

If he tells a story, it is not through characters, but by engaging with the truth of the natural presence of each of the artists on the stage. By unveiling for us portions of life, tinged with the sincerity and simplicity that human relationships can contain, Rain invites us to take one more step into this intimacy.

We are driven by curiosity and instinct to continue this process of exploration. We also enjoy the pleasure of the unknown, of daring to do something different.

With Rain, we are entering our second decade with pride, confident that the "Éloizian" approach in the world of contemporary circus will continue to open up new frontiers for us and the hearts of audiences everywhere.

Jeannot Painchaud, Artistic Director
Julie Hamelin, Creative Producer

A WORD FROM DIRECTOR
DANIELE FINZI PASCA

I come from a family of photographers. My great-grandfather, my grandfather, and my father were all photographers. Later, my mom took up painting. I grew up in a world where memories were made up of moments snatched from time and frozen forever. In my shows, I simply make these images move.

The story takes place in a theatre where a circus show is in rehearsal, where theatre and reality blend into one another and you can't tell where one begins and the other ends. The protagonists exchange glances revealing little love stories, secret passions, flashes of intimacy. Their fragilities have slowly blossomed, surfacing in the ultimate moments of effort in the interplay of extreme equilibria. The artists are out of the past, characters from collections of old photos, handsome and strong like our grandparents. And then there is the sky, a vast sky.

When I was little, when the first summer storm came, I was allowed to go out in the garden and play in the rain and get soaked to the skin. I still love that feeling of freedom - shoes full of water, clothes drenched, hair dripping. "Let it rain," we'd say. "It was as if we welcomed whatever came from the sky" sun or rain, we didn't care.

Unexpected things can come from the sky: messages, signs, promises. On our stage, not only rain will fall. Surprises will pour down as well.

There's a certain kind of feeling in this show, almost a sense of nostalgia, like a strange need to go back to the house you came from, the house where a family once lived, where your roots are. In our house we called this kind of beautiful, sweet sadness that you feel when you look at a sunset, "rain in your eyes." I want this show to be like a caress; simple, direct, filled with sensuality and tender hope. The protagonists in this adventure appear and gaze searchingly at the audience from the front of the stage. They begin a dialogue with the spectators, looking them straight in the eye. Then they are once again swallowed up by the surreal images of the story.

If I had to describe this show, I would say it is full of hope, joy, and a sweet longing, and that it is made of the stuff of my grandmother's stories. I dedicate it to all those who love to feel the rain pouring down on them.

Daniele Finzi Pasca