The Circusnext Lab is a collective research period in which artists preselected in the Circusnext programme are brought together to explore each other’s projects, work on the writing of their pieces, share extracts and receive feedback on their process. The primary aim of these Labs is to collaboratively refine each other’s projects, with a focus on circus writing and dramaturgy. It is also a valuable opportunity for the creators to network with other artists and professionals, as each session is hosted by a circusnext platform member.
In August 2023 DYNAMO had the pleasure to host a Lab for 10 days, dedicated to 5 projects, under the mentorship of Delphine Lanson. During the lab, the artists presented short parts of their projects to the group, and also in an internal collective presentation, at the end of the period. Here are the projects that participated in the Lab at DYNAMO:
PNEU by Viktor Cernicky
Viktor Černický’s new work balances on a fine line between the genres of contemporary dance performance, circus, and fine art. The quartet of performers relate to their bodies and to each other in a physically exhausting performative situation. Through the interaction with a variety of tires, they battle the effort, fatigue and crisis and atempt to discover a way to adapt and find lightness.
INSULA by Alexandre Duran Davins & Carla Piris Lasaga
The purpose of this piece is to question the Greek essential concept of Pathei Mathos (literally “learning through suffering”) as a path of growth, in conjunction with the notion of emptiness. INSULA speaks about mental health and the friction of the human being to evolve.
The classic chinese pole structure is limited to 3 meters in height, and beyond its axis. This deformation allows the artist to question its conventional use and discover new formats. A circus apparatus in a shape that appeals to disturbance and (psychological) imbalance, with the constant tension of having to fix the situation.
This proposal brings an unusual arrangement of the circus apparatus onto the stage and a personal style of acrobatic technique based on gentle strength, falls, floorwork, and unusual angles. It’s a consequence of a psychological-emotional state, not merely an illustration. https://www.instagram.com/alexandredurandavins/?hl=en
Bestiaire/Vestiaire by company Maison De La / Antoine Linsale & Guillaume Collard
The Bestiaire/Vestiaire project questions appearances in a time-space (a 3-hour cabaret) that allows the artists to become aware of and play with the injunctions that weigh on the way we dress, whether we are young, old, fat, poor, rich or queer.
The aim is to deconstruct the prejudices that weigh heavily on our identities and free ourselves from them, in a moment that is as much about show, conversation and getting naked as it is about partying, of course…
Dramaturgically, the performance will be looking at ways of renewing a genre that, for most of us today, is synonymous with pure entertainment. How can we thwart or play on these clichés? How can we turn them into a space of dissonance to pacify our differences? How can we turn the public from consumers into participants?
THOSE WHO REMAIN: CE(UX) QUI RESTE(NT) by Compagnie Inéluctable / Aimé Rauzier
The performance takes the audience on a sensory journey. To work on the “religious” in the etymological sense, religare in Latin, to connect. Making room for those who have passed away also means recreating links between those who are still here, building bridges over and above what is missing. Opening a breach between two worlds, engaging the audience’s senses to question reality, the mystical, the living and the inert. To achieve this, the artists are using a number of techniques, including the spatialization of sound, magic, light design, acrobatics and partnering. https://www.ineluctablecompagnie.com/
CORPUS CALLOSUM by Bram Graafland
In its author’s words, Corpus Callosum is “A solo for two: me and the tent, who has her own whims. A kinetic structure in the shape of a classic, cosy circus tent where the audience doesn’t just watch it but sits inside, fully integrated with the performance. Diameter, twenty and a half, and a height eight and a half meters, space for four hundred audience members where playing takes place in, on, next to, under, with and through it. There is no decor; she, the Corpus, is the decor and a musical instrument… in its entirety.
There is no fourth wall; the performance is here and now; everything and everyone is present and cannot be denied.”
Circusnext is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, with support from Institut Français (French Institute), ville de Paris (city of Paris).