The French get the best of everything in circus, and Panorama contemporain des arts du cirque is no exception. A 600-page book with profiles of 70 companies, it's like a Who's Who of (mostly French) circus: for each company you get a short timeline of signficant events, a one-page profile by the authors, an interview with a key member of the company (which uses a form interview – so everyone's answering the same questions), and then some sumptuous full-page and sometimes double-page images of productions or concept sketches (for Adrien Mondot, a screenshot of Quartz Composer). Sideshow's low-level French isn't really up to an analysis or judgement of the text itself, but it's sure to be a useful resource for those with better language skills. For everyone else it's just a beautiful thing.
Companies:
Acrobat, Guy Alloucherie – Compagnie Hendrick Van Der Zee, Jean-Baptiste André, Anomalie &..., Archaos, A.R.N – Laurent Cnanel, Les Arts Sauts, Baro d'Evel Cirk, Vincent Berhault – Les Singuliers, Gaëlle Bisellach-Roig - La Manœuvre, Mathurin Bolze – Compagnie MPTA, Aurélien Bory – Compagnie 111 – Burencirque – Dan Demuynck & Daniel Buren, Cahin-Caha, Cheptel Aleïkoum, Circo Aereo – Jani Nuutinen, Circolando, Cirkus Cirkör, Cirque Baroque, Cirque Désaccordé, Cirque Éloize, Cirque Plume, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Trottola – Bonaventure Gacon et Titoune, Clémence Coconnier – Meidosems, Collectif AOC, Collectif Petit Travers, Les Colporteurs, Compagnie Maripaule B. - Philippe Goudard Cirque d'Art et d'Essai, Compagnie 14:20 – Raphael Navarro and Clément Debailleul, Compagnie Rasposo, Compagnie Sacékripa, Compagnie Singulière, Compagnie XY, Cridacompany, Gilles Defacque – Le Prato, Armelle Devigon – Compagnie LLE, Escarlata Circus, Feria Musica, Geneva Foster Gluck – The Sugar Beast Circus, Boris Gibé – Compagnie Les Choses de Rien, Pénélope Hausermann – Les Intouchables, Christophe Huysman – Les Hommes Penchés, ietO, Xavier Kim – A.K.Y.S Projecte, Angela Laurier, Vincent de Lavenère – Compagnie Chant de Balles, Johann Le Guillerm – Cirque Ici, Libertivore, Rémi Luchez, Ludor Citrik, Maboul Distorsion, Les Mains Sales, Philippe Ménard – Compagnie Non Nova, Marie-Anne Michel – Compagnie Carpe Diem, Chloé Moglia and Mélissa von Vépy, Adrien Mondot – Compagnie Adrien M, Jeanne Mordoj – Compagnie Bal, Jörg Müller, Nikolaus – Pré-O-ccupé, NoFit State Circus, Les Nouveaux Nez, Proserpine, Romanès Cirque Tzigane, Layla Rosa, Etienne Saglio, La Scabreuse, Les 7 Doigts de la Main, Théâtre du Centaure, Jérôme Thomas – Compagnie Jérôme Thomas.