The Flying Canoe (14 min. 2018) video by LA with help from Angel Hamilton. Creator and Director: Jennifer (Opal) Elchuk.

  • Victoria Kopf
  • Kayla Stanistreet
  • Kollene Drummond
  • Jess Gentle
  • Thomas Vaccaro
  • (Fiddlin’) Jay Edmunds
  • Ceinwen Perks
  • Jeffrey Cadence
  • Jennifer (Opal) Elchuk
Some of the performers from Jennifer (Opal) Elchuk’s The Flying Canoe, photos by LA.

The Flying Canoe, presented by the Peterborough Academy of Circus Arts, tells the story of a French-Canadian folktale, the Chasse-Galerie (“The Flying Canoe”), with live fiddle music by Jay Edmunds. Brought to life through live theatre, dance, fire spinning, and acrobatics, the piece follows four lonely woodcutters who strike a deal with the devil.

Witness the spectacle, the woodcutters’ comical, action-packed adventures, and their dealings with a fiery devil as they traverse an innovative circus apparatus—the aerial canoe—rigged to the roof of The Canadian Canoe Museum atop the Grand Portage.

Performers include Opal (Jennifer Elchuk), Kayla Stanistreet, Jeffrey Cadence, and Victoria Kopf as the woodcutters, Thomas Vaccaro as the devil, and dancers Sammi Blanchard, Jess Gentle, Ceinwen Perks, and Kollene Drummond. It premiered for Artsweek Peterborough 2018 with the help of a generous grant from the Ontario Arts Council.

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