Circus has changed a lot over the past decade or two. Shows like Cirque du Soleil moved away from the gritty, sweat-and-sawdust performances of the traditional ring, and gave it a glitzy showbiz presentation in which the whole event flowed smoothly. What it lost was any feeling of personality, any involvement of the audience with what was happening – it was skill for its own sake.

Traces is performed by the four men and single woman of Les 7 Doigts de la Main, a French Canadian group, all with backgrounds in acrobatics, two of whom are former members of Cirque. They have succeeded in putting human drama into their show, appearing in everyday clothes on a gloomy set, featuring a piano that looks as though it’s made out of recycled junk.

The scene is a makeshift shelter with an unknown catastrophe waiting to strike outside. The five inhabitants have decided to spend their last moments doing what they do best, which incorporates an incredible number of different skills; feats of strength, skateboarding, acrobatics, aerial skills, musicianship and dance.

A lot of it is very risky indeed, as they climb and jump between the two high poles centre stage, somersaulting across to each other at high speed with no margin for error. The most impressive mixture of strength and grace comes from Jonathan Casaubon.

Using a climbing frame consisting of dismembered human parts, he twists and flies over, under and even though these obstacles, balancing for long moments on one hand, or moving snake-like between them without ever touching the ground.

The single girl in the group, Genevieve Morin, is a slender creature of strength and technique to equal any of the men. At one point she stands on a man’s shoulders, somersaults forwards and catches herself with her legs around his waist. Doesn’t sound much written down, but you should see it!