Corporeal Imago Brings IMAGO to Edinburgh Fringe

Corporeal Imago, the company founded by former Cirque du Soleil artists Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes, presents their latest work Imago - an enthralling, emotionally charged exploration of the space between holding on and letting go. Imago fuses the high-stakes precision of aerial circus with the evocative physicality of contemporary dance to tell a love story suspended between connection and loss.

At the heart of Imago is a deeply personal, lived connection. Co-choreographers and married couple Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes met while performing lead roles in Cirque du Soleil's 'TORUK - The First Flight', before breaking away to create something entirely new. Their work is not just physically demanding but emotionally intense, demanding absolute trust - both on and off stage. This personal connection is carried forward by the show's current cast, Eowynn and Isak Enquist, who are themselves also married. Their real-life intimacy brings a unique vulnerability and authenticity to every performance, making each lift, twist, and release both technically impressive and emotionally resonant. This dynamic deepens the work's themes of vulnerability, transformation, and the limits of control.

Imago is performed on a custom rope-loop apparatus that Martin and Hughes invented to push the boundaries of aerial movement. This deceptively simple device becomes a shape-shifting instrument of meaning - at once a cradle, a scaffold, a visual metronome, and a figurative body.

The apparatus allows the performers to move beyond the familiar vocabulary of aerial dance, creating a deeply physical language that reflects the emotional stakes of the piece. With the rope-loop, extensive research went into developing an entirely new movement vocabulary around this form, allowing the artists to depart from familiar techniques and find new, expressive possibilities. In the hands of Martin, Hughes, and now the Enquists, the loop becomes both a tether and a tightrope - a physical embodiment of the risks and rewards of real human connection. Every moment is steeped in risk - physical, emotional, and relational - as two performers navigate the fragile choreography of intimacy.

The piece unfolds to a haunting original score by Montreal-based composer Nicolas Bernier, known for his innovative work blending organic and digital soundscapes. His compositions bring a sonic depth that mirrors the emotional stakes of the performance. The visual world of Imago is lit by Sophie Tang, whose design creates a shifting dreamscape - at times serene, at times foreboding - that reflects the emotional ebb and flow of the choreography.

Imago is a show that wears its physicality on its sleeve. The struggle to hold on is real - and the stakes are high. This raw, visceral quality is part of what makes Imago so compelling - it's not just about the thrill of aerial movement, but the intense, often precarious human connections that underpin it.

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