Play, dance and musicality join hands with acrobatics in the new show from a French company that has already deeply impressed Barcelona audiences with creations such as Le Grand C.
We saw them as part of the 2015 Barcelona Grec Festival with Il n'est pas encore minuit... where they use acrobatics as a language to explain concepts and emotions. However, some years earlier, in 2012, they had already introduced us to their world of human towers with Le Grand C, a show that won that year's City of Barcelona Award for circus shows. During that first visit, the company was still experimenting with the expressive possibilities of acrobatics, and while finding their way around this new ground, they produced a serious, dignified show. But now, they have enriched their language by using music and dance, and they include collaborations with artists such as the contemporary dancer Rachid Ouramdane, always concerned with questions of identity, the contemporary composer Jonathan Fitoussi and the electronica musician Clemens Hourrière. They are companions on a journey which raises questions about people as individuals and what lies above them, about the concept of universality that transcends us.
Möbius, a good example of where contemporary circus is headed, will make you think about the group behaviour of schools of fish, swarms of bees or flocks of birds. The are models for the surprising transformations and effects which the members of XY and Rachid Ouramdane use to tell us about the constantly reinvented and rethought relationship between the individual and the group. The show aims to create a floating space for the audience, where time and space seem to contract or expand, suggesting perpetual motion, constant transformation, a flow consisting of acrobatics, which is linked to the image of the Möbius strip, a loop with only one side, that gives the show its name.
A co-production by Plateforme 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie - La Brèche à Cherbourg , Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf / Le Phénix, Pôle Européen de création, Valenciennes / Maison de la Danse, Lyon / MC2, Grenoble / EPPGHV, Parc de La Villette, Paris / Maison de la Culture de Bourges / TEAT Champ Fleuri, La Réunion / Agora, PNAC Boulazac Aquitaine / Les Gémeaux, Scène nationale de Sceaux / Bonlieu, Scène nationale d’Annecy / Le Carré Magique, PNAC en Bretagne / Espace des arts, Scène nationale de Chalon-sur Saône / Le Bateau Feu, Scène nationale de Dunkerque / Festival PERSPECTIVES, festival franco-allemand des arts de la scène, Saarbrücken, Allemagne
Residencies: Le Sirque, PNAC Nexon Limousin / Furies, PNAC en préfiguration, Châlons-en-Champagne / Cirque Jules Verne, Pôle national cirque et arts de la rue, Amiens / CCN, Grenoble / MC2, Grenoble / Maison de la danse, Lyon / Plateforme 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie - La Brèche à Cherbourg et le Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf / CIRCa, PNAC Auch / Tandem, Scène nationale, Douai / Le Phénix, Pôle Européen de création, Valenciennes
The XY Company is supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Hauts-de-France regional communication / department of cultural affairs, in terms of helping the company at national and international levels.
The company is associated with the Phénix de Valenciennes as part of the Pôle Européen de Création, with Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf - Pôle National Cirque Normandie, as well as the Cirque Jules Verne - Pôle National Cirque et Arts de la Rue (Amiens).
With the support of the Grand Est region and the Centre National des Arts du Cirque.
And the support of the Bnp-Paribas Foundation.
With the support of Instituto Francés de España - TIFE 2020.
The show will be broadcast live by betevé on Wednesday, 15 July, at 10 pm
Collective creation and performance: Abdeliazide Senhadji, Airelle Caen, Alejo Bianchi, Arnau Povedano, Andres Somoza, Antoine Thirion, Belar San Vincente, Florian Sontowski, Gwendal Beylier, Hamza Benlabied, Löric Fouchereau, Maélie Palomo, Mikis Matsakis, Oded Avinathan, Paula Wittib, Peter Freeman, Seppe Van Looveren, Tuk Frederiksen, Yamil Falvella Artistic collaboration: Rachid Ouramdane, Jonathan Fitoussi, Clemens Hourrière Lighting design: Vincent Millet Costume design: Nadia Léon Acrobatic collaboration: Nordine Allal Production and administration: Peggy Donck, Antoine Billaud Produced by: XY Company Photography: Christophe Raynaud De Lage, Cholette - Lefébure
