Presentation
Six acrobats trying to keep a permanent, right off-balance state.
They put together their bodies, tangle their arms and legs, seek strange forms, and never cease to reach their off-balance state by trying harder, by failing, by starting from scratch while trying to take their moves further and make them more complex, perhaps even stranger… They use obstacles to their benefit, while putting into practice their abilities to avoid them, to look away from them, to absorb them. In short, they transform them and use them.
They repeat loops in a cyclic manner, but always in a slightly different way. Every attempt to keep balance is illusory. Only constant transformation is permanent. For Rare Birds’ acrobats, it is not about finding a point of equilibrium or creating figures, but rather the opposite, it is about always trying to look for an evolution of movements and being their protagonists. They develop forms that turn into something else continuously and in an unexpected way, thus provoking a series of reactions, whose brilliance lies elsewhere other than in the spectacular.
After having explored humans’ struggles and resistance with Face Nord, Un Loup pour l’Homme starts from the new premise that acrobats are men with the ability to adapt. What matters is no longer to win or lose, but to keep on.
In a way, to carry on playing…
Statement of Intent
“Acrobats are men with the ability to adapt.
Going from being a mineral to becoming a plant / from resistance to endurance / from being an oak to turning into a reed.
Submitting rather than resisting.
Singing the praises of adaptation and transformation.
Being part of an evolution within a reasonable time-frame and length.
Acrobatic lifts and mobility: to reconsider space and the length of figures. Flow, suppleness, transformation and conservation of energy.
Adapting structures, moving points of support. Appropriateness of forms and functions.
To raise again the question of circus figures in terms of length. Not as an instant feat, but as a motif that evolves in time.
To always seek energy efficiency. Maximum efficiency with minimum effort.
“Less sugar”, not for the purpose of reaching slowness, but rather to gather speed.
The lighter, the faster. Moving towards acrobatic exercises that are sustainable and respectful with our bodies.
Precision and writing
To cultivate the taste for precision, or even the desire for perfection.
To strive for a perfect loss of balance.
To seek the essence of our practices within their simplicity, their obviousness, their piercing brilliance.
Perhaps, in a way, to think about the rare and fragile characteristics of beauty.
To write and compose while preserving the real character of circus dynamics, even the most precise one.
To maintain this state of presence, of nakedness, of acuteness particular to circus.
“The condition to the fabulous lies in being concrete”
Alexandre Fray, notes on Rare Birds, 2016
Team and partners
Creators performers Alexandre FRAY, Arno FERRERA, Mika LAFFORGUE, Sergi PARÉS, Frédéri VERNIER, Špela VODEB
Artistic Direction Alexandre FRAY
Artistic Co-ordination Miriam KOOYMAN
External perspective Floor van LEEUWEN
Dramaturgy Bauke LIEVENS
Sound design Jan BENZ & Steffen LOHREY
Lighting design Florent BLANCHON
Costumes Jennifer DEFAYS
Technical direction Pierre-Jean FAGGIANI & Laurent MULOWSKY
Administration Caroline MAERTEN
Diffusion Lou HENRY
Acknowledgements Jan STEEN, Jozef FRUCEK & Linda KAPETANEA / Rootlessroot.
Production Compagnie Un Loup pour l’Homme
Coproduction Plateforme 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie / La Brèche à Cherbourg-en-Cotentin – Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf ; Culture Commune / Scène Nationale du Bassin Minier du Pas-de-Calais ; CIRCa, Pôle National Cirque, Auch Gers Occitanie ; le Tandem Scène Nationale Arras/Douai ; le Bateau Feu – Scène Nationale Dunkerque ; Théâtre Firmin Gémier / La Piscine – Pôle National des Arts du Cirque d’Antony et de Châtenay-Malabry ; Le Manège – Scène Nationale Reims ; Theater op de Markt – Neerpelt ; Cirque Jules Verne – PNC / Pôle National Cirque et Arts de la rue / Amiens ; Fabrik – Potsdam ; Festival Perspectives – Festival Franco-Allemand des Arts de la Scène – Sarrebrück ; La Villette ; Association Rue des Arts, with support from DRAC Bretagne ; Festival Pisteurs d’étoiles / Espace Athic, Obernai.
Support Ministère de la culture et de la communication DGCA – Direction générale de la création artistique ; DRAC Hauts de France ; Région Hauts de France ; Région Ile de France ; Fonds Transfabrik – Fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant. ADAMI. Un Loup pour l’Homme is a member of Filage.
Tour (2017 - 2021)
Ecole d’Arogno (Suisse)
Une représentation organisée avec la commission culture de la ville d’Arogno.
TAKT Festival, Novi Sad (Serbie)
Une représentation organisée avec OPENS2019 (capitale européenne de la jeunesse) et Kulturanova, avec le soutien de l’Institut français de Serbie, dans le cadre du projet Ride&Camp.
RIDE&CAMP EST SOUTENU PAR TEATROSKOP (PROGRAMME INITIÉ PAR L’INSTITUT FRANÇAIS, LE MINISTÈRE DE LA CULTURE ET DE LA COMMUNICATION ET LE MINISTÈRE DE L’EUROPE ET DES AFFAIRES ETRANGÈRES), AINSI QUE PAR LA VILLE DE LILLE ET LA RÉGION HAUTS-DE-FRANCE, DANS LE CADRE DE LEUR PARTENARIAT AVEC L’INSTITUT FRANÇAIS.
27/06 - 18h
Représentation de Rare Birds en extérieur
Knežji Dvorec Celje
avec le soutien de l’Institut français de Slovénie & de Zavod Celeia Celje
Cette représentation est présentée dans le cadre de Ride&Camp, projet soutenu par Teatroskop (programme initié par l’Institut Français, le Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication et le Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires Etrangères), ainsi que par la Ville de Lille et la Région Hauts-de-France, dans le cadre de leur partenariat avec l’Institut Français.
