“I tell stories straight out of salt water,” says storyteller Cédric Landry about the Cirque Éloize show with which he is currently on tour. Between sky and sea is thus an invitation to set sail, towards the Magdalen Islands, for an extraordinary and festive three-hour immersion. “It’s not just a tourist brochure to go to the Islands… Yes, a little, but we’re going to the heart of an Acadian culture and we’re showing our way of life,” warns the Madelinot.
Between sky and sea therefore promises to bring the tradition of the archipelago up to date. “In Quebec, our theme is “I remember”, but I think we forget a lot of things,” laments Cédric Landry. And he continues with enthusiasm: “We, in the Islands, keep it alive, whether it’s Mid-Lent or our way of telling stories. It feels good. » In this regard, Mi-Carême, which is still an integral part of the folklore of the Magdalen Islands today, finds its setting on the stages of Quebec.
“I brought the element of Mid-Carême, with its costumed parade, thanks to a juggling act which creates excitement,” explains Félix Dagenais, who succeeds Michel-Maxime Legault as director. The wind, so powerful, now also finds its place in this show where movement meets words in a new tale. “The language of the story produces an even stronger anchor, it’s not just a juxtaposition of elements,” he adds. In fact, the unifying universe of Cédric Landry gives dimension to the circus acts. As for the Madelinot group Suroît, a character in its own right from the beginning, it participates in the beautiful mix of generations, styles and art which gives an alchemy to Between sky and sea.
For Félix Dagenais, hearing these words, this music and even the melody of the Magdalen accents brings balm to the heart more than ever. Between sky and sea stands out as a reflection of the pride of the territory and the language of the Magdalen Islands. “The stronger the accent, the more pleasure we take in listening to this music, because an accent is music,” underlines the director. “Our accent is our color, and each village has its accent,” adds Cédric Landry. According to him, if everyone – in Quebec, in the French-speaking world or anywhere else in the world – spoke the same way, “it would be boring”. The show is in this way a celebration of “everything that makes it beautiful”. “People get on board because they like authenticity,” believes the storyteller.
Head in the clouds
“At the start of the show, I tell people that I am taking them to the Magdalen Islands, but after that, it is the Islands that come to them thanks to the imagination,” points out Cédric Landry. Since what we find between sky and sea is the horizon line, this is also the border between the worlds of reality and imagination. “A bit like a tightrope walker on his wire, we switch from one to the other,” confides the storyteller. If the first stopover is in the Islands, the second takes the public elsewhere, perhaps even into the afterlife.
“At one point in the show, I accompany my father towards death,” says the storyteller. After helping his father cross the skyline to the other side, a balancing act occurs on stage. “With Félix Leblanc’s violin on top, it gives you chills,” he promises. In addition to exploring the universal side of death, Between sky and sea also revisits the concept of time passing. “In the Islands, they say that we don’t have the time, but we have time,” underlines Cédric Landry, who describes in the show the unique perception that the Madelinots have of it. “We let ourselves go and, with the story, we can afford to travel far,” he says.
Finally, there is this house with typical architecture of the archipelago. ” THE party begins when we go inside: it is not because the houses are small on the Islands that the parties are small,” announces Félix Dagenais. At the very end of the performance, it is time for the audience and the artists to enter into communion. “The idea is to invite others into our universe, and Cédric does it really well. We become his accomplice during the show,” concludes the director.“ We like to party on the Islands! , supports Cédric Landry. Between sky and sea is a journey full of emotions, which has everything to put a big smile on your face. The storyteller gives us his word.