• France Russie: traces de l'échange pédagogique

    DVD: France Russie: traces de l'échange pédagogique

    As part of the Institut Français' L'Année France-Russie 2010, the Centre national des arts du cirque in France and the Moscow Circus School in Russia undertook a creative exchange where students from both schools were brought together to share their different experiences and aesthetics—to train together—with the project culminating in two presentations in Moscow and Châlons. This double DVD documents the process.

    DVD 1, which you can listen to in French or Russian, interleaves footage of the students training with talking head contributions from teachers/trainers and the students themselves, touching a little on the difference between French poetics and Russian skill, and on the individualism of circus vs the development of a collective spirit. The Frenchies get a load of ballet; the Russians have to pretend to be gorillas.

    DVD 2 has full reels of the two presentations in France and Russia. They're a lot like your average student presentations, honestly, though it's quite funny to see the difference between the French studio presentation (which tends to be silent or else goes for rap music or thrashy rock) and the Russian circus ring showing (which starts off with a Swan Lake ensemble dance and lets in a little French style with some Amelie music). There's one piece that stands out: a juggling duet between a French guy and a Russian girl that responds intelligently to the conditions of its own creation and that's also very erotic in creating a game of tension, risk and response; watch the French version though, where the only sound is the bouncing juggling balls, and not the Russian version, where it's been set to Saint-Saëns' 'Danse Macabre'.

    All in all, it's a little bit interesting, but probably one for libraries and researchers rather than casual audiences.

    Artists: CNAC