This year, we broke our Montreal visit up into two chunks of time — one that coincided with Chase’s end of year shows at school, and one visit during the circus festival. It was wonderful being there for end of year shows. We were able to see Chase perform (in a moving and beautiful piece adapted from a local writer’s screenplay), we saw lots of other inspiring, thought-provoking, entertaining student performances… and we got to catch up with some of our favorite circus families! 

After a couple of weeks wandering the Maritimes, we returned to Montreal to enjoy the circus festival. It felt like the festival was finally BACK this summer, with lots of performances to take in throughout the city. Of course, our favorite was the fun, high energy street show created and performed by Chase and a group of fellow students (including a number of other Smirkos, which made it extra wonderful!).

If you’re into circus (and at this point, we hope many of you are!), check out the overall program. We had a lot of favorites this year, but The Pulse by Gravity & Other Myths was pretty spectacular — 24 acrobats + 36 choral singers in a work created during the pandemic.

We also loved Brave Space by Aloft Circus Arts for its beauty and the way it drew the entire audience into the performance.

Glob by Les Foutoukours was sweet and funny, and beautifully designed.

Barbu and Dirty Laundry were high energy fun, as was the outdoor cabaret CIRQU’EASY. We can’t wait to see what next year’s festival brings!!