France

  • Magazine

    By John Ellingsworth on 2 May 2012 in Reviews

    In her last show P.P.P. the juggler Phia Ménard worked with ice — a substance that couldn't be held and that couldn't be dropped, and that would, slowly, change its state if left untouched; a substance that was 'unjuggleable'.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 23 April 2012 in Reviews

    Performed by four men who will travel the sweat spectrum from dry to damp to sodden in the course of the gruelling 60 minutes they spend under the public eye, Un Loup Pour L'Homme's Face Nord is presented as a series of games or exercises meant to test the physical limits of the group onstage — asking more and more of them until, inevitably, they fail.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 18 April 2012 in Reviews

    An off-kilter, sloping trapezoid, broad and low ceilinged, the white chamber of Les Fuyantes is a place where physical space loops, where gravity upends or bifurcates, and where time halts, stretches and snaps.

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    By Geraldine Harris on 22 February 2011 in Reviews

    Last night, during Le Jongleur, Festival Nez Rouges’ penultimate show, I spent some time wishing Nikolaus the juggler would juggle more. Ten minutes into tonight’s festival finale, I am already wishing that Les Acrostiches would juggle less.

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    By Geraldine Harris on 22 February 2011 in Reviews

    Le Jongleur is performed for the first time tonight by soloist Nikolaus-Maria Holz, whose CV includes a stint in Archaos and teacher of clowning at top French circus schools Châlons-en-Champagne and Rosny-sous-Bois.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 1 December 2010 in Features

    'It's still a tent festival, with chapiteaus by the river, in car parks, hunched low outside the gates of Auch's towering cathedral, at the head of the Parc du Couloume – among the life of the town.'

    Sideshow visits the Southern French town of Auch for Festival Circa, a nine-day programme of student and professional work, and one of the big events on the contemporary circus calendar.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 29 November 2010 in Reviews

    As the audience files into the chapiteau, Compagnie Ea Eo are seated at the front of the stage: four young men, dressed casually, slouching a little, watching the influx of people as if from a park bench – as if it all has nothing to do with them.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 28 November 2010 in Reviews

    I think I've watched enough physical/visual work now that the concepts of narrative and character have become fully detachable from my understanding of theatre. But, still, you put something else in place: rhythm or formal patterning or just an element of raw, pulsing narrativity that can come from the drama of technical material or the intrinsic communicative power of a moving body.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 26 November 2010 in Reviews

    Baguettes, coats, bags of onions, wicker hampers, a double-headed broom, a picture book, coffee cups and saucers, spoons, plastic funnels, cardboard boxes – everything can be juggled, everything will be juggled in Les Apostrophés' lengthy and exhaustively inventive Cabaret Désemboîté.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 24 November 2010 in Interviews

    'And we need a tent, a little tent, because we want to present the work in a real proximity with the public – putting them close to tragic sensations, and to fear, and all the sensations we can find in the traditional circus. Theatre now is more in the head, and we try to find physical sensations in the public, letting them react to what happens here on stage.'

    A striking show at Festival Circa 2010, Théâtre d'un jour's L'Enfant Qui... is an oblique, ethereal portrait of an ill child, inspired by the early life of the sculptor Jephan de Villiers. Here Jephan and Théâtre d'un jour director Patrick Masset talk to Sideshow about their collaboration.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 24 November 2010 in Reviews

    A boy with a shaved head padding over fine soil. Big coat, big glasses. Big, curious, unblinking eyes. He crawls forward on his stomach and watches visions of giants who climb the trees of the forest and work inscrutably. At first they ignore him, but when a spitting, terrible seizure comes he is lifted bodily in the air, his small feet grasped and made to stamp at nothing.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 20 November 2010 in Reviews

    The press copy would have it as the sound of uncorked and irruptive champagne, or of a hissing fuse, but where it's voiced in the production the title phonetic is always this downplaying, cocky exhalation. It's Not So Great, I Dismiss This, I Dismiss You, I Could Do The Same Thing Better And Easier: Pfffffff.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 17 November 2010 in Reviews

    The simplest premise: one man likes getting wet, the other does not. The stage is a pool of water three feet deep. Begin.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 10 November 2010 in Reviews

    Unquestionably CirkVOST have an excellent wheel. Built from dark metal, two towering rings are joined by an intricate tangled network of ropes, pulleys and looping bars. Old hanging lights cast their glow in the centre; a dark plane of netting stretches the bottom.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 5 November 2010 in Reviews

    On the Avenue de l'Yser, just past the laundrette, just before the MacDonalds, down the light slope of a stony drive, movement catches the eye. At first its the black, many-headed silhouette of an active crowd, but then, behind and above, there's a flowing contour of red and white, like the underside of a cloud, shapely and iridescent

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  • News

    By John Ellingsworth on 4 March 2012 in Jobs & Opportunities
    Collectif AOC

    The French company Collectif AOC, a large collective who tour with and perform in their own chapiteau and who work particularly at the intersection of circus and choreography, are looking for circus artists of all disciplines to work on their new production. The show's creation will begin in September 2013, with the premiere planned for February 2014.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 30 December 2011 in Jobs & Opportunities

    Lying just outside the Parc de la Villette and co-owned by the Parc and the City of Paris, the Espace Périphérique is a creation centre for street arts, circus and puppetry that has a permanent chapiteau and a number of smaller studio buildings.

    They're currently soliciting applications from companies/artists interested in undertaking a residency during the second quarter of 2012. The residency can be geared toward production or research and there's some financial assistance available from the centre.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 30 December 2011 in Funding & Industry
    Fresh Circus Seminar #2

    As Fresh Circus 2 (the blockbluster sequel to Circostrada's enormous 2008 industry seminar) draws closer the organisers are inviting professionals, artists, researchers and other interested parties to send in their thoughts and experiences on the topics of the ten thematic working sessions. Namely:

  • Contemporary Circus Aesthetics: standardisation, globalisation, diversity of cultural expressions?
  • Artistic residency programmes: How to make use of space and time?
  • Which types of cooperation with business are possible?
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    By John Ellingsworth on 8 November 2011 in Jobs & Opportunities

    Flemish company Cirq’ulation Locale – based in Roeselare, Belgium – are looking for artists to join the company for future projects. Some of these projects will begin December 2011, others in March 2012, with initial work taking place at the company's training studio in Roeselare, Belgium.

    They're looking for five performers, in all:

    1. Acro Base: good level in sports acrobatics and in trampoline
    2. Acro flyer: good level in sports acrobatics and in trampoline

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    By John Ellingsworth on 5 September 2011 in Funding & Industry
    Fresh Circus Seminar #2

    Circostrada Network has announced the dates and structure of Fresh Circus #2, a 'European seminar on the sustainable development of circus arts' that will take place 12 & 13 April 2011 at Paris' Parc de la Vilette.

    It's an ultra-large Circostrada meeting, basically, with 400 professionals from the circus arts sector coming together to exchange and debate on a set list of topics with the aim of formulating recommendations for regional, national and community institutions, and – overall – of winning better recognition for the circus sector and its specific needs. The topics are:

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    By John Ellingsworth on 7 July 2011 in Festivals
    Cie SACEKRIPA, Coulisses | Photo: Guillaume Cloup

    The three principle circus bodies of the Midi-Pyrénées region, CIRCA, La Grainerie and Le Lido have teamed up to organise Midi Pyrénées Fait Son Cirque en Avignon, a major strand of circus work within France's Avignon Festival (which has been going since 1947, but only started to allow circus in fairly recent memory).

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    By John Ellingsworth on 28 June 2011 in Jobs & Opportunities
    Inside Out

    Inside Out, the outdoor Dorset arts festival run by Activate, are offering one subsidised place on the Footsbarn International Summer School, a three-week course (1-21 August 2011) where students devise a staging of Shakespeare's The Tempest and tour it to villages near Footsbarn's HQ in Maillet, La Chaussée.

    Inside Out are offering to cover the course fee (2100€), which includes accommodation and meals. The successful applicant will have to cover their own travel to/from La Chaussée.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 2 June 2011 in Jobs & Opportunities
    Compagnie Rasposo

    Compagnie Rasposo – a French tented circus with an old-world style, shortly to appear at Montréal Complètement Cirque – are holding a workshop-audition, overseen by Darek Karczewski, to select new artists to work with the company on researching their 2012 production. Specifically, they're looking for porters for banquine and hand-to-hand and for porters for Russian barre.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 8 April 2011 in Artist & Company
    Archaos

    You may already have spent a happy hour browsing the Archaos Circus Archive, a multi-authored online storehouse of memories, press clippings, photos and videos concerning the famous French company and their work. Entries are divided into categories covering the various shows, the 'Archaos Family', 'Borkowski and the Press', etcetera, and are tied to location to display on an interactive map.

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    By John Ellingsworth on 21 December 2010 in Jobs & Opportunities
    Festival La Quizaine de l'Entorse

    L’Entorse, a French organisation that works to strengthen the links between arts and sports, is seeking propsals for the 2012 edition of its biennial festival, La Quizaine de l'Entorse, held in Lille.

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  • Circus Festivals

    Cie BaroloSolo, O Temps d'O | Photo: GaelGuyon-LeMobiledel'art
    Caravane de Cirques
    17/05/2012 - 10/06/2012

    Balma – France
    Banquina at the 30th Cirque de Demain
    Cirque de Demain
    26/01/2012 - 29/01/2012

    Paris – France
    Zimmermann & de Perrot, Öper Öpis | Photo: Mario del Curto
    Cirque Évolution
    07/12/2010 - 17/12/2010

    Douai – France
    Slava's Snowshow
    Depayz'arts
    27/12/2010 - 31/12/2010

    Seine-et-Marnes – France
    Le Filament, Fil'Amor(t) | Photo: Manon Valentin
    Fest'arts
    09/08/2012 - 11/08/2012

    Libourne – France
    Cirk Vost, Epicycle | Photo: Philippe Cibille
    Festival Circa
    26/10/2012 - 04/11/2012

    Auch – France
    deFracto, Circuits Fermés | Photo: Pierre Morel
    Festival Cirque(s)
    14/02/2012 - 18/02/2012

    Angers – France
    Baro d'Evel Cirk, Le sort du dedans | Photo: Philippe Laurençon
    Festival Gare au Gorille
    16/05/2012 - 19/05/2012

    Pleumeur-Bodou – France
    Compagnie Anomalie & Les Witotos, Mister Monster | Photo: Sabine Delcour
    Festival Hautes Tensions
    11/04/2012 - 22/04/2012

    Paris – France
    Mimirichi, Paper World
    Festival Nez Rouges
    31/01/2012 - 08/02/2012

    Saint-Orens-de-Gameville – France
    Compagnie Ieto, Ieto
    Festival Solstice
    21/06/2012 - 30/06/2012

    Antony – France
    Atempo Circ, Atempo
    Janvier dans les étoiles
    10/02/2012 - 19/02/2012

    La Seyne-sur-Mer – France
    Collectif Petit Travers, Pan-Pot | Photo: Philippe Cibille
    La Barrière de dégel
    27/01/2011 - 30/01/2011

    Châteauroux – France
    Atelier Lefeuvre & André, Nil Omnibus
    La Rencontre des Jonglages
    06/04/2012 - 08/04/2012

    La Courneuve – France
    Jean-Baptiste André, Qu’après en être revenu
    La Route du Cirque
    10/08/2012 - 18/08/2012

    Nexon – France
    Les Colporteurs, Les Etoiles | Photo: Alain Chambaretaud
    Le Nouveau Festival d’Alba-la-Romaine
    11/07/2012 - 15/07/2012

    Alba-la-Romaine – France
    Race Horse Company, Petit Mal | Photo: Heli Sorjonen
    Les Anticodes (Lyon)
    31/03/2011 - 03/04/2011

    Lyon – France
    Compagnie Non Nova: P.P.P. | Photo © Jean-Luc Beaujault
    Melting Pot
    23/06/2011 - 26/06/2011

    Strasbourg – France
    Ea Eo, M2
    Pisteurs d'Etoiles
    27/04/2012 - 05/05/2012

    Obernai – France
    Prise de pied, Thé perché | © Cie Prise de pied
    Rêveurs éveillés
    15/01/2011 - 05/02/2011

    Sevran – France
    Layla Rosa, What If...
    Spring
    15/03/2012 - 07/04/2012

    Cherbourg – France
    Collectif AOC, Autochtone @ Village de Cirque
    Village de Cirque
    05/10/2011 - 16/10/2011

    Paris – France

  • Circus Training Spaces

    La Grainerie, Balma

  • Festivals

    Baro d'Evel Cirk, Le sort du dedans | Photo: Philippe Laurençon
    Festival Gare au Gorille
    16/05/2012 - 19/05/2012

    Pleumeur-Bodou – France
    Cie BaroloSolo, O Temps d'O | Photo: GaelGuyon-LeMobiledel'art
    Caravane de Cirques
    17/05/2012 - 10/06/2012

    Balma – France
    Compagnie Ieto, Ieto
    Festival Solstice
    21/06/2012 - 30/06/2012

    Antony – France
    Les Colporteurs, Les Etoiles | Photo: Alain Chambaretaud
    Le Nouveau Festival d’Alba-la-Romaine
    11/07/2012 - 15/07/2012

    Alba-la-Romaine – France
    Le Filament, Fil'Amor(t) | Photo: Manon Valentin
    Fest'arts
    09/08/2012 - 11/08/2012

    Libourne – France
    Jean-Baptiste André, Qu’après en être revenu
    La Route du Cirque
    10/08/2012 - 18/08/2012

    Nexon – France
    Cirk Vost, Epicycle | Photo: Philippe Cibille
    Festival Circa
    26/10/2012 - 04/11/2012

    Auch – France
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