Pauline Guillier and musician Aldo Scarpitta, joined by director Lucas Borzykowski spent this DYNAMO residency to work on the performance The Handbook of Voluntary Suspension. A work in progress presentation took place in DYNAMO on 12th June 2026.

About the performance

In a minimalist set design, a somewhat clownish, clumsy character attempts to follow the instructions in a book to learn how to hang herself. A fragile dialogue takes place between the handbook, the trapeze and this character in search of suspension.

In this universe, circus artist Pauline Gaullier explores the articulation (successful or failed) between sound, music and movement; text and body; the trapeze, the ground and the act of hanging. 

This show is a live circus-poem, a scenic investigation into concrete and existential questions, through a clownish and contradictory alter ego, obsessed by falling and security in a unpredictable world. 

About the artist

Pauline Guillier is a former student of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS Ulm) and holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies (2024). Her research focuses on play reading committees in France, examining artistic evaluation, public theatre institutions, and the production of aesthetic and economic value. She also works on the intersections of performing arts and environmental humanities and collaborates on interdisciplinary research-creation projects in theatre and circus.

This residency is part of DYNAMO’s Musikdramatik residency series, made possible with funding from the Danish Arts Foundation. The purpose of the series is to support crossover projects between music and circus.