The « Grand-mother project » has started in 2006 with cultural actions. Little by little, it has grown to become an actual artistic production project.
« J’aurai toujours des rêves, maman » (I will always have dreams, mum) is a research project about the gesture of carrying and what it means with elderly people whom Alexandre Fray meets. Taking the time to meet, to relate to each other, to listen a lot, create an atmosphere favourable to confidence and connection, and therefore be able to evolve towards a common physical work later. It is out of the question to rush the relationship. It is about finding intimacy, imbued with a great delicacy. You cannot suddenly find yourself holding up a stranger, abandoning yourself in the arms of someone without this particular attention.
The idea is then to bring people in the world of hand to hand balancing, where intimacy and the relationship to the other prevail. Going as far as possible, gently, with each one, listening to their fears, to their desires… To see what can be weaved in these extraordinary moments, where you accept for the first time to be lifted off the ground. Be attentive to the emotion blossoming out of this work.
Conception : Alexandre Fray, Miriam Kooyman & Cathy Blisson by and with : Alexandre Fray (or André Rosenfeld Sznelwar) and 4 local’s grand-mother Sound design and grandmother coaching : Cathy Blisson Outside eye : Christophe Bergon Image and music : Karim Zeriahen Régie : Pierre-Jean Faggiani (en alternance avec Romain Antoine) Production, diffusion, administration : Lou Henry, Emma Lefrançois, Chloé Vancutsem Thanks to Caroline Cardoso
Production : Un loup pour l’Homme
Partners coproduction :
CYCLE 1 – Théâtre d’Arles – scène conventionnée pour les nouvelles écritures, Houdremont – scène conventionnée – La Courneuve (93), Le Manège Scène nationale de Reims, CG92/Théâtre Firmin Gémier La Piscine Antony, Le Sirque Pôle National des Arts du cirque de Nexon
CYCLE 2 – Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf, Pôle national des arts du cirque – Normandie (76), Lavrar o Mar, Aljezur (Portugal), Ay Roop Scène de territoire pour les arts de la piste (Rennes – 35)
As we like to say, if acrobatic carrying is at the heart of our work, it’s because we’re not soloists. It’s not the single individual that interests us so much as the relationships we develop with others. Our work is by nature oriented towards human encounters, and our project is obviously completed by an increased attention to transmission and sharing, with non-professionals as well as professionals from the circus and other fields, within colleges, EHPAD, social centers or circus schools.
We are enriched by these interactions with others, in all their diversity, and with the benevolence and respect of our colleagues.
From 2023, Cuir will be a production carried by Les halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels. For more information, please contact Anaïs Longieras – diffusion.armour@gmail.com.
In a powerful body-to-body confrontation, two harnessed men play at manipulating each other’s bodies. The cautious pleasure they take in transforming each other into an instrument, an apparatus, a playground or a battlefield engages them in a struggle with mutual consent. Between traction and attraction, they do not aim for power over the other, but rather power with the other.
statement of intent
In Cuir, Arno Ferrera and Gilles Polet seek to maintain a relationship of person to person, which does not call for a conflicting confrontation, nor a win-lose relationship. One may want to subordinate the other, to force him to follow, to impose a situation on him, but the other may also be in a state of acceptance, in a willingness to follow this obligation. Both men then enjoy their positions, with consent, without any hierarchy. To do this, they explore the capacities of their bodies with the help of equestrian harnesses, usually reserved for draught work and ploughing. The strength thus acquired allows them to be gentle. Not only does the harness amplify the potential of human traction, but it is also an illuminator. Through the physical commitment to serving others with this archaic tool, the two acrobats seek a state where instinct and will become visible and tangible.
Team and partners
Creators : Arno Ferrera, Mika Lafforgue and Gilles Polet Artistic direction : Arno Ferrera Performers : Arno Ferrera and Gilles Polet
External eye : Paola Rizza Choreographic eye : Benjamin Kahn Sound adviser : Amaury Vanderborght With complicity of : Alexandre Fray
Light designer : Florent Blanchon Light and sound technician : Pierre-Jean Faggiani Saddler : Jara Buschhoff Costumes design : Jennifer Defays
Coproduction : Le Bateau Feu, SN Dunkerque (FR), Theater op De Markt, Neerpelt (BE), Larural, Créon (FR), Perspectives Sarrebruck (DE).
Support : Conseil Régional Hauts-de-France, SACD / Processus Cirque, Fonds Transfabrik (fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant). Un loup pour l’homme is supported by French Ministry of Culture / Direction régionale des affaires culturelles Hauts-de-France. Un loup pour l’homme is member of FILAGE (Lille, FR).
Partners residencies : Tanzhaus Zurich (CH), Theater op De Markt Neerpelt (BE), L’échalier St Agil (FR), Larural Créon (FR), Le Moulin du Roc SN de Niort (FR), Latitude 50 pôle arts du cirque et de la rue Marchin (BE), Le Prato Pôle National Cirque de Lille (FR), Katapult Berlin (DE), La Faïencerie & La Locomotive Creil (FR)
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)
Arogno (CH)Rare Birds13/10/2019
Ecole d’Arogno (Suisse)
Une représentation organisée avec la commission culture de la ville d’Arogno.
Novi Sad (RS)Rare Birds20/09/2019
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.
Celje (SLO)Rare Birds27/06/2019
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.
