Once populated by odd creatures, freaks and phenomena, circus has long gone beyond the ordinary to disrupt our idea of what is possible, attracting an audience curious to catch a glimpse of a hidden reality under the big top. Through its display of extraordinary skills as well as the questioning eye it casts over norms, circus plays with boundaries, skirts the edges of the forbidden and shocks sensibilities to reveal the repressed realities that come to the fore in society’s margins. Artists poke fun at good taste and taboos as well as at our ideas about what makes a monster, gender identities and social categorisations. As well as defying gravity and the human condition, the artists break language and movement out of the conventional strictures which restrain us in our tightly bound existences.
This shaggy-haired work of fantasy brings norms and our estrangement from them head to head. La Chose throws into doubt the ways we represent femininity and assign roles.
Extract: An encounter that will give you goosebumps
Céline has no hair. She was born different that way. She sings under her breath that “there’s only one hair on Matthieu’s head” (a popular French song), before dancing slowly, radiating joy. All the while, the performers throw linen “locks” around her, making the hair she has never had fly – taking with them all the shame that came with not looking like other people.
Authors Luna Rousseau et Nathan Israël
Director Luna Rousseau
Artists Céline Brynart, Julien Cramillet, Nathan Israël, Chloé Mazet, Maëlle Reymond
Musical creation Théo Girard
Scenography and costume conception Domitille Martin
Costume designer Albane Noel
Light production Patrice Besombes
General production Jean-Marc Beau
Thanks to Sébastien Brun, Stéfany Ganachaud
Direction Unité de production audiovisuelle du Centre national des arts du cirque (CNAC) - Châlons-en-Champagne/Anne-Laure Caquineau
“Les Princesses, ou Ce Qu'il en Reste”
It has long been said that fairy tales help children to accept themselves, feel more confident and face their fears. They are a deep source of help when we need to tackle hungry wolves, get through prepubescent crises and become adults.
But what after? Where does all this help go? Once we have had our first kisses and more or less started exploring our sexuality, what do we do with all the magic rooted in the forests of our memories?
When we reopen the door to our childhood and seek out those old good-luck charms, images from old tales re-emerge. A life comes into view, the story of which we tell ourselves and recount in our inner circus tent. It is a plush, restricted space for ritual initiation where secrets are whispered and fears confessed, fuelled by the power of legend, where lyrics are murmured or sung and circus is performed in an intimate ambiance, with pain and grace acting as so many scarifications and liberations.
What is a princess these days? A princess can be lots of things! But, most importantly, princesses are a way of talking about love.
Conception Marie Jolet
Authors Création collective avec la collaboration artistique de Christian Lucas.
Artists Matthieu Duval, Marie Jolet, Gatica, Julien Michenaud, Carine Nunes, Marc Pareti
Director Christian Lucas
Conception John Caroll
Construction Gaël Richard
Musical creation Marjolaine Karlin avec le soutien de Julien Michenaud
Light production Matthieu Duval
Costume designer Natacha Costechareire
Scenography Factota
La production de cette création est assurée par le Cheptel Aleïkoum dans le cadre des activités artistiques soutenues par les conventions avec la Région Centre-Val de Loire et la DRAC Centre- Val de Loire.
With support from Fonds SACD Musique de Scène, de la SPEDIDAM au titre de l'aide à la production et de la DGCA au titre de l'aide à la création cirque.
Residencies and coproduction Manège, Scène nationale de Reims, L’Hectare, Scène conventionnée de Vendôme Cadhame, Halle Verrière de Meisenthal
Coproduction Maison de la Culture de Tournai/PLÔT CREAC – La cité Cirque de Bègles
Residencies Le 37e Parallèle à Tours, Cheptel Aleïkoum, La Stabule à Saint Agil
Supporters L’ENACR, Ecole Nationale des Arts du Cirque de Rosny-sous-Bois, Latitude 50, Pôle Arts du Cirque et de la rue de Marchin
Direction Unité de production audiovisuelle du Centre national des arts du cirque (CNAC) - Châlons-en-Champagne/Anne-Laure Caquineau
What is scarier, soaring 8 metres in the air or stepping up to a microphone to tell your story? This is exactly the question the acrobats at Desiderata try to answer as they weave a message about gender into their circus specialisms (Korean trapeze and swing). Between their flips, lifts, jumps and catches, the six men read out poems, allowing a certain tenderness to come to the surface, a necessary corrective after the savagery of their routines and vivacity of their bodies.
Desiderata is a reflection on the concept of the collective (with all the dissonances that involves) and the journey in search of a movement and thought. There is not just one person's voice in this show but rather a voice composed of these six performers. This generous, liberated and intense moment of flight questions our established ideas about gender.
Director Sophia Perez
Artists Rémi Auzanneau, Hernan Elencwajg, Johannes Holm, Veje, Tanguy Pelayo, Baptiste Petit, Martin Richard
Choregraphy Karine Noël
Musical creation Colombine Jacquemont
Sound production Colombine Jacquemont ou Claire Mahieux
General production Vincent Van Tilbeurgh
Light production Victor Munoz et/ou Vincent Van Tilbeurgh
Production manager Maude Tornare
Direction Unité de production audiovisuelle du Centre national des arts du cirque (CNAC) - Châlons-en-Champagne/Anne-Laure Caquineau
This is a powerful theatrical circus rooted in myths and the body. By drawing a parallel between a lady circus performer’s all-devouring passion for her audience and the mythological character of Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, this show makes visible the bull-fighting element of circus which is its true nature.
As the second instalment in the Gold Trilogy, La DévOrée touches on the question of whether to fight with all one’s might or let oneself be devoured. As circus routines unfold like nervous electricity, this artistic manifesto is something the spectator experiences physically as it communicates a tragic instability. It is steeped in the raw, bodily world of Francis Bacon and the symbolic sophistication of Gustav Klimt.
Circus artists Robin Auneau, Justine Bernachon, Inès Maccario, Serge Lazar, Marie Molliens
Musiciens Christian Millanvois, Françoise Pierret, Francis Perdreau
Light and sound production Bernard Bonin, Arnaud Gallée/Gérald Molé, Théau Meyer, Marion Foret
This play is a cave where reality isn’t quite visible. Misfits reveal themselves on the circus ring and summon metamorphosis of their quirky spirits. They expose what’s been long hidden.
Five circus artists create a mysterious world and work with different appartus and specialities – chinese poles, elastic strings, wire, contortion, cyr wheel, choreography.
The show explore circus acrobatic through musical experimentations, physical and esthetic research.
In this performance, the child spirited director of the company Marlène Rubinelli-Giordano invites the audience to reflect on its personal secrets.
Artistic direction Marlène Rubinelli-Giordano
Artistic advice / dramaturgy Mélanie Jouen
Assistant director Inès Garde
Artists Antonin Baille (chinese pole), Florent Blondeau (wire), Adalberto Fernandez Torres (contortion), Emma Verbeke (strings), Monika Neverauskaite (cyr wheel) Scénography : Sigolène de Chassy
Aerial systems Géraldine Rieux
Metallic structures Laurent Mulowsky, Fabrice Gervaise
Musical direction Fabien Alea Nicol
Light Laurent Bénard
Costume designer Emmanuel Grobet
Magic Benoît Dattez
Technical coordination Laurent Mulowsky
General direction Géraldine Rieux
Light production Olivier Duris
Sound production Vincent Lenormand