Letní Letná festival offers thrilling late-summer diversions

The local heat wave was still in full effect Friday evening, as thousands of Prague residents exited the city for the cooler countryside and a weekend of chatas and swimming holes.

Those without such diversions were left to their own sweaty devices, and many made their way up to Prague 7, where the Letní Letná festival is underway, and French troupe Compagnie XY, one of the festival's two headline acts, was set to give a performance of Le Grand C.

There may be no better way to beat the heat than watching an ensemble of acrobats perform death-defying stunts for your entertainment. Sure, the stands were packed and the canvas big top was about as ventilated as a sweat lodge, but when you're watching a 4-foot tall woman with 25-inch biceps balance in a perfect handstand on the hands of someone standing on someone else's shoulders, only to flip and land on her feet on said colleague's hands - well, let's just say personal discomfort loses its urgency.

The audience seemed slightly disconcerted for the first few minutes of the show, as the troupe appeared one by one on stage, accompanied by a wistful accordion behind the curtain, and then proceeded to climb on top of one another, forming a human wall, three people high and four wide. Soon, however, the flips and vaulting started and with it the spontaneous applause, punctuated by an occasional gasp.

But Le Grand C wasn't all physical shock and awe. One sequence saw women standing on the shoulders of their male counterparts, waltzing to the accompanying accordion. It was an oddly touching display in a show that ranged from nostalgic, to humorous, to sad - with no words, save for a single chanson refrain. It is a tribute to the Compagnie XY that they are able to cull a spectrum of emotions from acrobatics.

Simply put, the show was fantastic. Letní Letná specializes in "new theater," and Compagnie XY offers this with aplomb. Le Grand C, which lasted about 90 minutes, was more choreograph than story, and only three props (a log, a tall chair and a see-saw catapult - yes, people were catapulted) were available for visual aids. The rest was up to the troupe.

After the show, the crowd headed towards several refreshment and entertainment tents to soothe nerves that had been wowed and frazzled by the white-knuckled performance. The southern portion of Letná park has been transformed into a veritable circus village for the festival, with bars offering beer, wine and cocktails, tea shops, DJ booths and several small stages. Sitting on the grass with the sultry sounds of a Czech teenager playing reggae on an acoustic guitar nearby, it was easy to overlook the fact that "Iced tea" had been served without ice - the atmosphere made up for it.

If you haven't made it to Letní Letná, don't delay - the circus never stays in town forever.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com