Zimmermann & de Perrot
Swiss precision circus-makers. Combining the talents of a circus artist, acrobat and clown (Martin Zimmermann, an early graduate of CNAC and one of the students who worked with Josef Nadj on the famous Le cri du Caméléon) and a DJ-performer (Dimitri de Perrot), Zimmermann & de Perrot work most often with large-scale structures that reflect some quality of circus language (balance or momentum or inversion) at the same time as they provide a kind of narrative landscape for the performance. In Gaff Aff the set was a giant turntable, in Öper Öpis it was a stage that could tilt pneumatically to steep and shallow angles, and in Hans Was Heiri the acrobats are placed inside a giant house that spins like a pinwheel. In 2010 Zimmermann & de Perrot also collaborated with the Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger on Chouf Ouchouf.
Magazine
"Plan B was the second piece, conceived by Aurélien but directed by Phil Soltanoff, a very uncompromising artist who Aurélien seems to find a big spark with. Yes, it's a slightly different aesthetic from some of his other works, but I think that Aurélien has progressed with every show he's done. It's gotten more complex. It's got more layers to it now. I think Plan B was an amazing step forward: who knows how people will see it now, but 10 years ago people who saw it were very deeply impressed."
Mime Festival directors Joseph Seelig and Helen Lannaghan talk about the six circus shows (and one not-dance show) from January's programme.
As we enter the auditorium, we see the members of Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger loitering onstage, a motley assortment of men and women of various ages – some tall, some small; some stocky, some svelte.
Played out on a raised square stage that tilts in all directions (slowly) as performers move their weight across it, Öper Öpis is the latest collaboration between clown Martin Zimmermann and DJ Dimitri de Perrot, featuring also a small assembled cast of European circus talents.
‘Attention spans will be even shorter than now, perhaps too short for words. Stitched together from the strongest limbs of circus, puppetry, movement and dance, visual theatre is an unconquerable monster destined to overcome all other modes of discourse.’ - Joseph Seelig, co-director, London International Mime Festival.
Sideshow searches for the strongest monsters in the 2010 line-up, including work from six countries and nine companies.
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