Artpark: See Cirque performers suspended from hot-air balloon along Niagara Gorge

Press Release

Witness the insane acrobatics of France’s Cirque Inextremiste as they burst onto the basket of a hot-air balloon during a tethered ride, knocking the skies off balance. Their clownish, tightrope-walking, quirky, fiery, spectacular and utterly crazy performance called “Exit” is this Sunday, Aug. 27 (8 p.m.), in the Artpark lower park (near South Fourth Street).

Tickets are $12 and are available now at the Artpark box office and ticketmaster.com.

Cirque Inextremiste has performed at major festivals throughout Europe since 2007. Yann Ecauvre’s extreme acrobatic French collective will play with our fears and wreak havoc with our perspective. Don’t miss their Western New York premiere at Artpark.

Fanzini Productions's Ballet Poulet will entertain guests arriving to “Exit” just after 7 p.m. Witness two world-class Olympian-level idiots bringing you their latest masterpiece. She has prepared a poetic, delicate and tender ballet. He has prepared a renegade display of mayhem. She loves dancing, he loves chickens. Nut-cracking and swan-faking their way into your lives, these two will make you really question which came first … her tutu or his toupee? This performance is directed by Joe Dieffenbacher and performed by Con Horgan and Kim Mc Cafferty

Keep In Mind:

√ The “Exit” performance will be held in Artpark’s parking Lot D (the large lot closest to the South Fourth Street entrance). As a result, no parking will be allowed in this area. The South Fourth Street entrance will be closed to vehicles. However, pedestrians will be permitted to enter through this area. Tickets can be purchased at the entrance as pedestrians are walking in. For patrons arriving by vehicle, tickets will be available at Artpark’s upper box office (Portage Road entrance).

√ Free parking will be available in Artpark’s upper lots, near the amphitheater’s upper entrance, via the Portage Road entrance. Patrons will then walk down the red brick road or the amphitheater stairs to the viewing area. ADA shuttles will be available for those who need transport. Allow for a 10-15-minute walk time down to the show site.

√ Wear comfortable shoes and note that some walking surfaces may be uneven.

√ Blankets and carry-in chairs are permitted and recommended.

√ Guests will be placed in designated viewing areas. 

Tickets are available for purchase online at ticketmaster.com or via Artpark’s box office. Ticket prices include facility fee; additional fees apply for online and phone orders.

More About ‘Exit’  

The fantastic Cirque Inextremiste team and its 3400 m3 aerostat immerse the public, body and soul, in an unusual scenographic universe. In “Exit,” a group of sweet lunatics find themselves trapped in spite of themselves in a life-size epic. Their mission: to free themselves from their straightjackets and escape at all costs from this world governed by strict and implacable rules. The play area, transformed by the flight of the hot air balloon, is an open-air theater where the artists’ aerial waterfalls coexist with the stars. With a crescendo toward freedom, “Exit” offers an emancipation of the mind, a powerful, luminous and unifying artistic breath, a demonstration of the porosity of the border between art and madness.

More About Cirque Inextremiste

With gas cylinders as an emblem, Cirque Inextremiste has traveled from theaters to festivals across Europe since 2007. Driven by Yann Ecauvre, real risks and scathing humor are the watchwords of this company which always pushes the boundaries of the extreme further. Cirque Inextremiste now has eight shows and around 50 members.

Yann Ecauvre, with an atypical and self-taught career, staged his first show in 2007, titled "Inextremiste," set around a trampoline and gas cylinders. In 2009, the company took the name Cirque Inextremiste. The "Extrêmités" trio was created in 2012, with boards and gas cylinders as accessories! In the same crazy dynamic around a mini construction excavator, the second part called "Extension" was born in 2014.

Between 2015 and 2017, the Cirque Inextremiste team grew to create two new shows: a spectacular "Extreme Night Fever" ball and a large-scale street show around a hot-air balloon "Exit." In 2018, Yann offers a new balance show titled "Damoclès." This participatory form questions the trust we place in each other in the face of a difficulty. The company then worked on two new creations released in 2021 and 2022: a funny and caustic clown solo titled "Malàdroite," and a second solo carried by Yann, which takes the form of a spectacular experience "WARNING" where the notion of risk is once again central.

Visit artpark.net for more information.