Gratte Ciel performers were a sight of strength and elegance, with all the daring components of French new circus – an influence that felt very much at home in Galway. As they climbed 35 meteres into the sky, Mullarkey’s bubbling bass, emotive strings and climbing synths took us through the transitions of the year – from free-spirited beginnings to the reflective depths of Samhain.
Speckled with pagan and carnivalesque details, the performance was an explosive taster for the year of magic to come that explored the relationship between the sky and the land moving through the wheel of the year. The culmination of the performance was a confetti explosion the cascaded across the audience and being caught in a dreamcatcher that sat above the performance.