How do you spell circus? - Centre National du Théâtre

stradda
dossier #9 - december 2010
le magazine de la création hors les murs
w
Ho
?
us
irc
ll c
pe
us
yo
do
Circostrada Network
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 1
stradda
n° 15 - janvier 2010 – 7,5 €
The magazine
on the circus and
outdoor creation
le magazine de la création hors les murs
ÉDITION
LE CIRQUE
EN TOUTES LETTRES
WITNESS/N14
la compagnie des riverains
LES GRANDES TRAVERSÉES
festival branché sur Berlin
Critical and analytical reports
Current events within circus
and street arts
A look at unique projects
stradda
n° 18 - octobre 2010 – 7,5 €
le magazine de la création hors les murs
La rue s’invente
de nouvelles scènes
Reports on cities from the four
corners of the globe
The strong presence of
photography
Informed points of view
The dossier is an extract from
stradda #15 – january 2010
stradda #18 - october 2010
Professional information with
“Les Brèves”
Quarterly magazine in French
1 issue : 7,50 € • subscription from 28 €
www.stradda.fr • [email protected] • + 33 (0) 1 55 28 10 10
A publication from
horslesmurs
the French national resource centre
for the circus and street arts
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 2
contents / editorial
How do you spell circus?
6
IS THERE A FORM OF CRITICISM FOR THE CIRCUS?
?
us
irc
ll c
pe
us
yo
do
THE CIRCUS AND ITS INSECURITIES
le magazine de la création hors les murs
w
Ho
4
stradda
dossier #9 - december 2010
12 JÉRÔME THOMAS. THE MASTER JUGGLER
Circostrada Network
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 1
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATION
Jean Digne
CHIEF EDITORS
Jean Digne – Stéphane Simonin
REDACTION
Emmanuelle Dreyfus – Thomas
Hahn – Pierre Hivernat
IMAGES
RMN / Jean-Gilles Berizzi
– Koen Cobbaert – Marco Pece
– RMN / Jean-Claude Planchet
– Christophe Raynaud de Lage
TRANSLATION
Brian Quinn
© MARCO PECE
COORDINATION
Isabelle Drubigny, Yohann Floch
W
ILLUSTRATIONS
Marie Le Moigne
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Anne Choffey
editorial
e are happy to present the
ninth sample dossier of the
magazine Stradda: «How do
you spell circus?». It includes three articles, taken from numbers 15 and 18 of
Stradda: «The circus and its insecurities»,
an opinion piece by Pierre Hivernat, «Is
there a form of criticism for the circus?»,
a report on twelve journalists in search
of words on the circus and «The master
juggler», a portrait of Jérôme Thomas.
The European professionals of the circus
and street arts have often expressed a wish
to have access to publications and documentary resources that are easily accessible and translated into several languages.
These resources are useful on many levels:
beyond the necessary exposure given to
artistic projects, they also serve to inform
policymakers, institutions and sponsors
on these innovative aesthetics. Stradda, a
quarterly magazine published in French
COPYEDITOR
Peggy Tardrew
by HorsLesMurs –national resource centre
for the street and circus arts – is the only
magazine that is entirely dedicated to creation in the public space and the contemporary circus. The correspondents of the
Circostrada Network platform naturally
turned to this particularly well-identified
publication to, every other month, translate into English and publish online the
thematic reports to appear with the magazine. We hope that this new dossier will
participate in creating an easier circulation of ideas and artistic projects. We also
hope that it will add to the overall debate
and bring to light the great vitality of the
circus and street arts.
PUBLICITY
Violette Bernad –
diff[email protected]
+33 (0)1 55 28 10 09
This project has been funded with support from the European
Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only
of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.
circostrada network
Jean Digne. Director of Publication
Stéphane Simonin. Chief Editor
Yohann Floch. Coordinator
of Circostrada Network
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 3
opinion
Pierre Hivernat, the author of a recent publication on the circus arts, has followed
circus artists closely and delivers here a telling and at times severe diagnostic that is
also full of hope.
The circus
and its insecurities
“
Pierre Hivernat has
been an artistic
consultant at
Radio France and
then a consultant
to Catherine
Tasca before
fulfilling the
duties of cultural
and audiovisual
attaché at the
French Embassy in
London. In 1995,
he took over the
Arts-Performance
section of the
magazine the
Inrockuptibles.
From 2000 to
2007, he was
the director of
performance
programming
for the Parc de
la Grande Halle
in La Villette.
From 2007 to
2009, he joined
the association
MarseilleProvence 2013
European Creation
Capital. He has
just opened the
Magasin de Jouets
in Arles, a gallery
dedicated to
image arts.
http://lemagasin
dejouets.fr
After several months spent observing, listening,
reading, seeing shows and conducting interviews
so as to draw up, along with Véronique Klein,
an overview of the contemporary circus, I feel as
though I have examined a patient who tends to
present an impressive array of various complexes.
Original sin. In the inferiority complexes
chapter, we’ll begin with relationships to other
fields and, in particular, to the big brother of the
theatre along with, to a lesser extent, the younger
siblings of dance and the plastic arts. In Rome,
the theatre was a noble art and the circus was a
game. The circus disappeared for many centuries, beyond the radar of ars nova. The theatre
has declaimed itself and written itself day by day
ever since. Even today, the circus seems to bear
this burden as its original sin. A large number of
circus artists are constantly using the word dramaturgy, which is often the guaranteed minimum
when it comes to the performing arts. But rather
frequently, the need becomes a dogma and translates into an unquenchable thirst for the recognition of their ability to construct narratives that are
just as sophisticated as their theatrical colleagues.
Bartabas will only entertain Pina Bausch, the creator of the Tanztheater concept, or Peter Brook as
possible references to his equestrian theatre and
he shares with Zimmermann and De Perrot or
James Thiérrée the refusal of any “circus” label in
descriptions of his work.
The Chaillot syndrome. Listening to
them, it is easy to understand their obsession with
being shut in, or their real fear of being taken
for simple, mindless athletes whose only goal is
to cheer up and clear the minds of consumerspectators (or, even worse, children), instead of
nourishing their poetic insight on the state of the
world. The ultimate goal, either consciously or
unconsciously, is not to be booked in Auch, but
in Avignon; to avoid grazing the lawn of Reuilly
and to, instead, walk the gilded halls of Chaillot.
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 4
To top it all off, when the circus reaches the height
of this contradiction and makes it to the national
“cultural section”, it is often thanks to outside
directors or choreographers adept at using (or,
as they say, instrumentalising) its intrinsic qualities without deforming them. One might think of
Guy Alloucherie or of François Verret.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Cirque
Plume is not afraid of showing its colours and
swears only by its attendance ratings, which it wears
as an indisputable medal, attacking head-on, in its
last show, painting and contemporary art. Here
we find the message of a circus with a patent superiority complex. It is sure of itself and openly sets
the borders between a popular art and a populist
one. At least the Cirque du Soleil, the champion of audience attendance ratings, far ahead of
Cirque Plume, refrains from dressing the performance as a form of coffee talk about the arts.
Killing the father. Let’s add a good familial
Oedipal complex to the list. Killing the father is
also one of the constant preoccupations of some.
How does one juggle after Jérôme Thomas?
How does one approach the tight rope after Les
Colporteurs? How does one treat aerial acrobatics after Les Arts Sauts or the clown after Gilles
Defacque? Some have used the term minor art
and meant it, making it a part of their routine
and constantly feeding it into their discourse and
creations, suffering from it, fighting to become
major. Their lack of humour and of distance
produces shows that are boring, since they strive
to exist either through, for, with or in opposition
to. The great circus family has been a broken one
for a long time. Circus artists calling themselves
researchers worthy of large laboratories, contrasting their work with that of public entertainers,
the aristocracy of large performance families
against numerous families of acrobats and intermittents du spectacle, the private circus against the
public circus, success marked by the recognition
of Art Press against the pride of a newsreel played
© MARCO PECE
on the TF1 primetime news. The energy spent
in these struggles do not make the art any better,
only unreadable. And it does not offer any artistic
breakthrough or produce any new aesthetic.
Great delight.
Most fortunately, many artists
have overcome their complexes, produce intelligent shows, do not forget distance or humour,
know how to situate their art and find its place.
In other words, they do not merely exist artistically
but also socially, without having to prove it throughout their act. The list is long and the delights
are great. With “Devoris Causa”, The Catalans
d’Escarlata Circus tell, under their bigtop, a great
philosophical, social and political tale through
Arte Povera; Layla Rosa sensitively treats a difficult
subject, the headscarf, in her show “What If…” ;
Geneva Foster Gluck revisits the circus history of
her country, that of Barnum. She won’t yet be
going to Art Press, but Art Press will be coming
to her for her deconstruction of the very notion
of performance and the acuity of her message.
Angela Laurier produces universal creations
using her own familial episodes and Jani Nuutinen happily discovers the roots of a most subtle
minimalist circus.
French school. Curiously, none of these are
French. Let’s take this as a sign. The public policies carried out in France for the production and
distribution of the circus are, as in other sectors,
unique in the world. On the European level,
France remains the leader with programmes like
Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe. France, with its
many different high-level schools, produces more
professional companies and circuses than Spain,
Italy, Germany and Great Britain combined.
The law of supply and demand being what it is,
the system’s loss of steam is on everyone’s mind
without anyone daring to truly take measure of
its effect, perhaps with the exception of the JTC
team itself, whose probing work is not essential,
but vital.
Finally, in the perspectives chapter, this overview
would surely not have been as cheerful without
the presence of Raphaël Navarro and all these
companies of new magicians who travel in India
and Amazonia to better understand ritual magic
and inform their productions with it, demonstrating, if it needs to be demonstrated, that the circus
without complexes is magic and universal.
● PIERRE HIVERNAT
How does one
treat aerial
acrobatics after
Les Arts Sauts?
A response in
Lego figurines.
Portrait
“
“Fortunately, many artists do
not forget distance or humour
and exist artistically and
socially without having to
prove it throughout their act.”
Pierre
Hivernat
–
Véronique
Klein
“Contemporary
overview of the
circus arts”, by
Pierre Hivernat
and Véronique
Klein, a copublication of
Textuel and
HorsLesMurs,
released October
27, 2010.
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 5
���������
���������������������
���
�
��� ���� �����
��� ��
��� �
�
����������������������������������������
�������
����
�������
����
�������������
������������������
�������������������
�����
����������������
��������������
dossier
Is there a form of
criticism for the circus?
In Europe, people are often surprised to hear that circus criticism is its own genre.
However, this comes as no surprise in Finland or in France. Dialogue is called for to
address this divide.
W
hat level of knowledge of the artistic,
historical, material, international or societal context is necessary if one wishes to
speak competently about a circus creation? What
language does a critic have at his disposal and what
vocabulary does he need? In this ever-emerging practice, everything remains to be defined, including the
genre itself. From the start, the situation proves to
be a complex one. In most European countries, the
presentation of the circus arts is the work of journalists who usually write about dance or theatre.
And this is in a media context where the Internet,
Twitter and others have, little by little, replaced the
supposed or real authority of specialists.
Greece, Italy, Croatia
“The journalist
Sylvia von
Harden”, by Otto
Dix (1926).
In France, journalists are clearly not happy with
the state of circus criticism. Yet it is one of the best
examples in Europe. In Germany, only one revue is
available to specialised editors, but it is reserved for
performance professionals. In Greece, the genre is
not well known. In the countries where this is the
case, criticism must precede artistic evolution and
thereby inverse the usual cycle, which starts with
the creation of circus schools, then companies,
followed by the appearance of a regular audience,
so as to finally see journalists start to familiarize
themselves with the genre.
However, in Greece, in Croatia and even in Italy,
certain dance specialists wish to present the audience
with the wealth of the circus of today. And, since
there is strength in unity, emerging European criticism is compelled to federate, to debate and to get
involved in a permanent research process to construct an identity.
An expanding domain
But should we not first find a better definition, a
better description of this genre? The circus arts are
no longer happy simply inviting dance or the visual
arts to join them under the bigtop. Today, acrobatics
and juggling are themselves solicited by the theatre
and performances, to the point where the very categorization of “circus” is no longer quite so simple to
define, especially for the artists themselves.
Can we create a new mode of observation;
perhaps one that is close to a lost tradition when
those who analyzed creations were themselves men
and women of letters? Is it possible to maintain a
form of criticism that is closer to the audience and
the artists? Indeed, on the circus side, the “conflicts
of interest” can turn out to be productive. When
circus artists themselves take part in the theoretical
debate, is it not an opportunity for journalists to
better apprehend the specific and intertwined ties
between an art and its audience?
The time has come to develop together and to set
out a shared vocabulary between artists and critics,
an approach that would go beyond the simple
learning of technical terms, a surface-level and
yet analytical form of expression, a language that
would be creative and sensual. ● THOMAS HAHN
European seminar on circus criticism. HorsLesMurs-Circostrada-Team Network
The 4-day seminar, Art Writers and
Circus Arts, brought together twelve
journalists from eleven different
European countries at HorsLesMurs’
location in June 2009. This initiative
was a first. It was a forum of formal
and informal discussion including
encounters with professionals, teachers,
programmers and artists.
The participants were mostly dance
specialists and were driven by the desire
to learn more about the circus. However,
between the chief editor of an art revue
and the critic of a daily newspaper, the
difference in professional backgrounds
and, therefore, in expectations, was
substantial. Yet all felt the need
to confront the different national
contexts in which the current circus has
developed and to enter into a discussion
on the specificity of analytical writing
on the circus arts. The conference
was organized by HorsLesMurs and
Circostrada in partnership with Team
Network and revealed to what extent
circus criticism needs to change in
order to move forward. In a time when
all forms of press are facing economic
constraints, today the goal is to open the
discussion to an international level. ●
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 7
d o s s i er
Twelve journalists in search of
words for the circus
As a conclusion to the conference organized at HorsLesMurs in June 2009, the participants
laid out on paper the ideas addressed or refined during these four days of discussion. The
points of view are contrasted and theoretical and practical proposals are developed.
U
nder the bigtop, in front of the circus
ring, spectators are (almost) equal.
The critics are not, according to the
country where they practice their
trade. The new circus is not always
granted a place in many of the countries of the
European Union as if there were still a kind of
Schengen artist yet to be defined. Because, as
troubling as it is, the image of animal trainers,
clowns and glitter is the only one creating a collective imaginary in Europe.
A new planet
This is what is reported from Scotland by Mary
Brennan (Glasgow, The Herald), who defines
herself as being “without a true sense of the circus,
be it traditional or contemporary,” and having, at
most, “a few memories from childhood and of the
Cirque du Soleil.” She describes herself as “a critic
“In what terms might we explain
and analyze the magic experience
of the circus?”
Bauke Lievens, Spain.
who has acquired experience in the domains of dance,
visual theatre and mime.” While she writes for a
large audience, and, a priori, a circus audience, she
struggles since she does not have access to contemporary creation in this domain outside of the Fringe
festival in Edinburgh. Her paradoxical ambition is
to invent a language that is sensitive, learned and
catchy, while she claims to be perfectly ignorant of
any specific vocabulary.
She shares this position with Christos Polymedossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 8
nakos (Athens), editor in chief for the revue Highlights. He presents himself as “an editor in the field of
dance” and would now like to surprise his readers
by giving them access to a new artistic planet.
In Italy as well, the situation is far from brilliant.
“The new circus is integrated in multi-disciplinary
festivals, so the term is not very present. The new
circus in itself does not exist,” argues Eleonora Felisatti (Bologna, Art’O revue). For her, the best
insights on the new circus were published by the
only specialised revue in the country, the Juggling
Magazine, in 2003.
For Croatia, Ivana Slujinski has noted a marked
retreat of the media regarding the Internet and
information exchange networks, as well as a decline
in the quality of information in the press. “Theatre
criticism is disappearing. Add to that preferential
treatment, indirect forms of censorship and the specialised press’s financial problems.” She also says that,
“there was no contemporary circus in Croatia before
2000 and the new circus has really only been present
since 2005.”
Define a vocabulary
While some are low on artistic proposals, others
are already worried about the definition of the
new circus in the artistic field. Bauke Lievens,
who writes for the Spanish revue Zirkolina, is the
author of a thesis on ritual in the contemporary
circus. She reminds us that “the label of ‘contemporary’ comes from the logic of festivals and season
programmers more than from artists themselves.
The absence of a clear definition is a problem, but
less so for the critic than for the growth of circus
itself. Definitions like ‘interdisciplinary’ are empty
shells.”
This remark leads straight to a central question,
which is that of the language of the circus critic.
“It would be important for the circus to stop widening
© RMN / JEAN-GILLES BERIZZI
its definition and, to the contrary, that it be narrowed
in on and materialized. This goal goes immediately
back to the lack of a specific vocabulary.” For this
journalist, “the circus creates a community and sends
us back, for a few moments, to our animal side while
it also brings us toward our neighbour. In what terms
might we explain and analyze the magic experience of
the circus? What is the link between movement, the
meaning it produces and the spectator’s emotion? The
audience’s circular line of vision is also important, as
well as the fact that the artist is surrounded. What
would happen if the circus were performed more and
more frequently in the box of the stage, the traditional
terrain for theatrical texts?” Then Bauke Lievens
addresses words: “Words like ‘dramaturgy’ or ‘choreography’ can help to understand and appreciate a circus
show, but they may also lead us to neglect an array of
specific codes and dialectics.”
Creative circus
So what role could be played by the commentator?
Bauke Lievens dreams of a new kind of journalist,
one who would be less of a specialist of the different techniques and disciplines than a thinker, a
philosopher. “The circus critic should ask the same
questions as artists in the creation process. That’s why
thought on the matter should be implicated in artistic
“The best role that the critic can play
is that of a sparring partner who
helps the artist to realise his or her
ambitions.”
Tomi Purovaara, Finland.
practice. This is the only way the critic can contribute
to the growth of an artistic form. (…) If the circus
looks for what its essence is, criticism must participate
in this very search. The circus today is poorly served by
a criticism that approves or refutes an artistic proposal. It needs deeper thought into its essence and the
artistic forms in which it appears. Criticism must
recognise the diversity of the postmodern world as a
fundamental reality in the arts.”
Ivana Slujinski points out that, for her, “a lot of
things escape the eye of the critic who is not properly
introduced to the differences between trends and techniques. There can be misunderstandings. Developing
a terminology can reduce these and help critics to establish the circus as a recognised artistic form.”
For Tomi Purovaara, who manages the Finnish
Circus Information Centre of Helsinki, the idea is
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 9
d o s s i er
“Developing a terminology can limit
the number of misunderstandings
and help critics to establish the circus
as a recognised artistic form.”
Ivana Slujinski, Croatia
to “actively connect artists, critics and institutions.”
He also strives for the artist-critic community: “The
artist also must define his or her action in relation
with history and different contemporary subjects. The
best role that the critic can play is therefore that of
a sparring partner who helps the artist to realise his
or her ambitions. This implies speaking a common
language.”
Term transfers
What is behind this concept must still be defined.
Is the importing of terms from other fields always
negative? The metaphor is rich and the transferring
of expressions used for describing dance could be
a good solution. The problem is rather the great
proximity between the circus and other artistic
languages.
Mary Brennan defends a pragmatic approach
regarding this issue. “We must borrow terms from
other disciplines. But is it really that big a deal? If a
show finds in itself the strength needed to engage and
entertain an audience, does the spectator really need
to know that it takes its origins from the circus? Is an
article that sees clearly and is informative and well
thought-out inferior because its author does not know
how to name the tricks or equipment?” The Scottish
journalist specifies that when she writes on dance,
she does not use “the technical vocabulary of ballet
or of the avant-garde, or an academic language.” She
insists on the risk of creating a negative subtext for
readers who might feel shunned or excluded. It is,
therefore, a balancing act, since one also wants to
be taken seriously by artists.
The insights of Eleonora Felisatti argue in the
same vein: “The arts have always managed to integrate contributions from other disciplines like the
neurosciences and new technologies and criticism has
managed to accompany these evolutions. It will therefore also be able to adapt itself to the new circus.”
Activate the networks
Is being able to meet Tomi Purovaara’s demands
a question of vocabulary? “In each country the
contemporary circus has its own artistic identity and
knows its own modes of production. The critic should
read a show from its own parameters and situate it in
the European context of circus arts and evaluate the
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 10
artistic content in view of the historical development
of the circus.” For Christos Polymenakos, “the critic
should also be aware of the societal context on both
the local and global level.” This can only happen
through exchanges like those carried out during
HorsLesMurs’ Parisian seminar. Tomi Purovaara
suggests practical solutions: “Dialogue and the
creation of European networks can help the critic to
better understand the situation in different countries.
Add to this the circulation of literature and creations,
as well as that of critics, to allow them to see the maximum amount of styles.”
The visceral side
The apparent conclusion for Bauke Lievens:
“Since the spectator lives an experience more than he
understands a circus show, it would be fascinating to
hold an analysis of this art through the perspective of
the audience. The circus has an important role to play
in a society that is becoming more globalized, more
virtual and more individualist each day. The circus
is a ritual that confirms for us the visceral side of the
existence that we share through our threat of physical death. In this way, the circus offers a cathartic
experience comparable to that of the Greek tragedies.
(…) After a heterogeneous period, the circus is seeking
out its very own essence. The body once again becomes the central source of meaning, at the expense of
video, lighting or costumes. Theatre and dance are
undergoing a similar post-dramatic evolution due to a
cultural thirst for ‘presence’. This desire also manifests
itself in the success of reality television and the omnipresence of stunts in films and video games. This is,
perhaps, one reason for the current popularity of the
circus. In any case, this certainly provides us with a
better definition of what a contemporary art is, that it,
a form that enters into a dialogue with today’s individual and responds to his or her questions.” ● T.H.
The totality of contributions, written by journalists attending this seminar and gathered under the title “Art Writers
& Circus Arts,” can be downloaded on the Circostrada
Network site in a multi-lingual version. www.circostrada.org
“Is an article that sees
clearly and is informative
and well thought-out
inferior because its
author does not know
how to name the tricks or
equipment?”
Mary Brennan, Scotland.
��������
����������������������������������
�����������������������������
���������
���������������������
����������������������������������������
�������
����
�������
����
�������������
������������������
�������������������
���
��� ������ �����
��� �
��� �
�
����������������������������������
�������������������������������������������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������������������������
���������������������������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������
����������������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������������������
�������������������������������������������������������
�����������
�������
����������
����������������������
�������������������������������������������������������������
��������������������������������
��������������
�����������
������������������
������
���������
���������������
����������������������������������
�������������������������������������
��������
��������������������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������
�����������������������������������
���������������������������������
������������������
����������
����������������
��������������������������������
��������������������
�����
���
���������
EAST/WEST:
DISTORTING MIRRORS
�������������������
�
�������������������������������
����� �������� ������������������� ��������� ���� ���������� ����������
��������������������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������
�
�
�������������������������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������
�������������������������������������������������������������������
�������������������������������������������������������������������������
���������������������������������������������������������
portrait
Jérôme Thomas
The master
juggler
The developer of “cubic juggling”, and pioneer of
the new circus, Jérôme Thomas is also a source of
memory. Just as he is presenting his new creation,
“Ici”, he talks to Stradda about his beginnings, his
development and his taste for simplicity.
J
Additional
reading: “Jérôme
Thomas,” by
Jean-Gabriel
Carasso and
Jean-Claude
Lallias, the Quel
cirque collection,
a co-publication
by Actes Sud and
Cnac.
érôme Thomas has been developing his practice over some thirty years. Having worked
in the traditional circus and then the music
hall, he is a figurehead for the new circus and
was at the origin of “cubic juggling”, a poetic
repertoire that he is transmitting to the younger
generation. He is an artist in continual creation and
the further along he gets in his work and insight, the
more he looks for a bare-bones approach that focuses on the performer. We find this in his new show,
“Ici”, where juggling is not the main actor.
Self-taught.
“At the time when I began, at age 14,
juggling wasn’t very well known. There weren’t many
people doing it. Actually, there were, but they were
hidden in the cabarets. There was no form of transmission.” Not very interested in school, Jérôme Thomas
was the despair of his mother who sought in vain to
motivate her son. “I loved music and I was always
dancing. But I wasn’t interested in music theory because
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 12
it was very didactic, just like everything else people tried
to get me to do, horse-riding, piano, judo.” Thanks to
his mother, the teenager wound up taking a workshop
with the fairground arts company of Adrienne Larue,
next to Angers. “At the time it was very general. We
did as much wire work as we did trapeze and juggling.
It was an introduction. I was put in the juggling section
for the presentation at the end of the class and I did as
best as I could. I couldn’t stand still. I kept walking. I
found the trick of going back and forth from stage right
to stage left and that made everyone laugh. I was my
first stage experience. I kept juggling in front of my bed.
I learn by myself and that’s the way I like it.”
At the Fratellini school. At age 18, the
apprentice juggler went to Paris to join the national
circus school of Annie Fratellini. Very quickly, Annie
asked him to stand in for the troupe’s juggler. “It was
the big time for me, but at the time, on top of circus
school, I was taking Serge Martin’s class at the Lecoq
© CHRISTOPHE RAYNAUD DE LAGE
school and at night I worked on my classical dance in
the Marais with Yves Casati. I had to drop everything
to go on tour. I decided to go. That’s how my life as a
juggler began and I learned my trade. It lasted about
two and a half years.”
Music hall, all the way.
“Annie was a mother.
One always wants to leave a mother. I had to show
her that I was independent.” He accepted his first
contract in Israel. One month later he was back in
France and pursued the music-hall experiment under
the leadership of the artistic agent Carmen Bajot.
“It was tacky, but I was really into it. I had two
performances a night for three years and eight months on
tour per year.” But as Jacques Tati once said: “Cabaret
is great, but you’ve got to find a way out of it or you’ll
wind up a bartender or a waiter.”
Cubic juggling. Jérôme Thomas did not feel
frustrated by the codes of the cabaret. However,
when in Berlin in 1948, he saw videos of jugglers in
the company of Karl-Heinz Ziethen, a great historian
of the discipline and he felt that his capacity to create
had increased tenfold. Between technical skill and
minimalism, he chose the latter.
“Karl told me: ‘You will go slowly.’ Twenty-three years
later, I understood. I wasn’t idle, but I was lazy. I
cultivate laziness to a notion of a freeze-frame imagery
of things. That allows me to have a certain perspective
on the arts, politics, the world. It allows me to develop
cubic juggling. The very base of this practice was to look
at insignificant things like a juggler with three balls for
30 minutes. So I started to analyze the movements and
break them down.”
Developed in three dimensions – as opposed to
two in traditional practice –, cubic juggling considers
the juggler as much as the object and the space. An
upheaval of the old codes. “We find bridges, relationships with the music, like the binary and ternary.
It’s like in music.”
Jérôme Thomas
in 2003.
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 13
p o r t r ait / jérôme thomas
1987 “Artrio” with
musicians Carlo
Rizzo and JeanPaul Autin.
1990 “Extraballe,”
first solo show.
1993 Founding of
Armo (Atelier de
recherche en manipulation d’objets).
1995 Originator of
the “Dans la jongle
des villes” festival,
the first festival of
contemprorary and
improvised
juggling, in
Malakoff (92).
1996 Creation of
GR12, the company’s research group
(development of
cubic juggling).
2001 “Cirque Lili.”
2003 SACD’s circus
arts award.
2006 “Rain/Bow.”
2008 “Deux homes
jonglent dans leur
tête,” with Roland
Auzet.
2009 Elected to the
SACD board (delegate for the circus
arts), for a period
of 3 years.
2010 “Ici”.
Jérôme Thomas and Markus Schmid
during a rehearsal of “Ici.”
Transmission. In the beginning of the 90’s,
Jérôme Thomas founded Armo (Atelier de recherche en manipulation d’objets), both a company and
a place to pass on his methods. “Everything that I
brought to light already existed, I just conceptualized
it…” For him, all of the great jugglers, from Bobby
May, one of his artistic role models, to Michael
Moshen – who he considers a genius – also practiced
the binary and the ternary, but they did not write it
down. Jérôme Thomas has produced a first volume
and has a second one in the works: “The new generation must be able to construct itself, and for that it needs
the foundation.”
Music and dance. To work with this artist, it
is not enough to be a good juggler, you also have to
be an actor and have a mastery of dance movement.
“Ici”, all of our prisons
F
or two years, Jérôme Thomas collaborated with the mime Markus
Schmid on the creation of “Ici”, using documentary research
(reading “Discipline and Punish” by Michel Foucault as well as inmate
testimonies, watching films and newsreels on detentions) and fieldwork
(holding workshops in prison) regarding all kinds of internment, be it
incarcerating, corporal or philosophical.
No juggling balls. For this variation, the master juggler left his juggling
balls behind and called out to musician-mechanic Pierre Bastien, a
trumpet player and inventor of unheard-of instruments, moved by
motors. “He’s an incredibly brilliant artist who generates incredible
emotion”, says Jérôme Thomas. “His machines, objects and sound
sculptures will be put on stage and put into motion by our sound
engineer.” Jérôme Thomas and Markus Schmid come together, around a
chair, and use choreographed movement and the handling of objects and
papers to offer us a poetic get-away. ●
www.pierrebastien.com
dossier from stradda #15 and #18 / page 14
Musicality is essential. “I have always listened to music
and danced. But I never tried to be a musician. I have
a solid background in the work of an actor, dancer and
juggler, which makes three skills. Music was one too
many. Roland Auzet1 freed me as far as music was
concerned. You can’t be good at everything.”
Focused on the bare bones. Today, Jérôme
is taking a radical approach. He is not inclined to
make use of new technologies. This troupe leader
is heading his solo and collective shows by tending
toward stripping things down. Inspired by the position of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker2, he hopes to
get rid of the fluff and “concentrate on the bare bones
performer.” “Currently, my constraint is to deepen the
rapport with a 2,5 x 2,5 m square. I need the performer,
two speakers, four projectors and fifteen chairs.”
Continual creation. As with any artist, he
cannot choose between his creations. However, some
of them truly stand out. “’Rain/Bow’ consumed ten
years of my life. The ‘Cirque Lili’ was also a tough one
to put on. ‘Artio’ was a real breaking point/ ‘Extraballes’
also left some marks on me…” While he gets ready to
unveil his newest creation, “Ici” (see box), Jérôme
Thomas asks himself some questions. “I’m more interested in inscribing myself in continual creation than
in the creation of shows. If they ask me to show some
exercises, I’ll do it, but without worrying about things
like distribution.”
● EMMANUELLE DREYFUS
1. Percusionist with whom he created “Deux homes jonglaient dans
leur tête.” In the show, Jérôme Thomas plays an instrument for the
first time.
2. When asked about his decision to do without a stage and lighting
for “En attendant,” (Avignon 2010), the choreographer explains: “It’s
an ecological decision.”
www.jerome-thomas.fr
© CHRISTOPHE RAYNAUD DE LAGE
Key dates
circostrada network
Circostrada Network – street arts and circus arts
European platform for information, research and
professional exchanges
Circostrada Network works towards the development
and structuring of the circus arts and street arts on the
European scale. Although these sectors represent a dynamic
contribution to the European arts, they are in need of
a common forum to allow for collaboration, discussion
and professional representation at the European level.
Founded in 2003 by HorsLesMurs and composed of over 30
correspondents, the network contributes to the sharing of
information and resources within these artistic milieus by
favouring encounters and co-operation between European
professionals and by carrying out common actions to further
the recognition of these artistic forms.
Circostrada Network
c/o HorsLesMurs – 68, rue de la Folie Méricourt – 75011 Paris – France
T. +33 (0)1 55 28 10 10 – F. +33 (0)1 55 28 10 11
[email protected]
www.circostrada.org
��������� ��������������������
����������������������������
����
����������������������������������������
���������
������� ���
������
�����������
��������
����������
�������������������������������
����
����� � ����
������������ ����������������
� ��������
���
���������� ������
��������
����������
�������
����������
����
�������������������
���
�����������������������
��������������
��������
����������������������
����������������
�����
���
������
������������������������� �����������������
�������������������������
��������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������
���������������������������
�������������������������
���������
�����
���������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
�������������������������������������������������������������
r����������������������������r��������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
r����������������������������r�������������������������������
�
�
�����
������������������������
���������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
r�������������������������������������������������
�����������
r������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������
��������������������
�����������������������������������������������������
r�������������������������������������
��������������������
����������������������
������������
�������
��������������
�
�
������ �
This projectfrom
has been funded
with support
the European
publication 16
dossier
strad
dafrom
#15
andCommission.
#18 /Thispage
[communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
circostrada network