The Big Top

A website by UT2J students in Project Management for the Performing Arts

Jane Avril – A Dancer between Madness and Innovation?

By Emmanuel, Mikal & Marion

Poster by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1899) showing Jane Avril

The cabaret was a place that brought together different social classes, which do not usually mix. It was also a place of refuge, a safe place for people who were excluded from society. The cabaret allowed different people, who went through trauma or who were discriminated against by society, to have a place of refuge but also a place which allowed them to find recognition and make a breakthrough as well as giving them the opportunity to create links with other people who came to the cabaret.

Indeed, cabaret offered a voice to marginalized artists and performers, who did not find a place in traditional artistic circuits and who were able to express themselves more freely in an alternative framework. This has also helped to diversify the art scene.

Artists have used cabaret to address social and political issues, which created a sense of solidarity and belonging.

Some cabarets have helped deconstruct stereotypes by offering representations of sexuality, gender identity and other aspects of day-to-day life. These spaces played an educational role by exposing the public to diverse perspectives and promoting the understanding of others.

It was during the Belle Époque that the cabaret experienced its biggest growth. The expression “Belle Époque”, which spread throughout the twentieth century, reflects a somewhat distorted and embellished perception which is nevertheless based on a certain number of realities: the political stability, the rapid economic growth oriented towards modernity, the improvement of the quality of life of French citizens, which was accompanied by a  reduction of poverty and the development of leisure and sporting activities.

During this period, French society was very hierarchical, but people began to realize that they belonged to a single nation and, therefore, that different social classes could coexist.

Artists began to deviate from realism to give birth to abstract art, art nouveau which was an avant-garde style. Social dance practices at balls or in cabarets brought people together, regardless of their social class.

One of the great cabaret personalities of this period was Jane Avril, who defended personal development and healing psychological trauma through dancing. She was one of the most famous dancers of the Moulin Rouge, she was also the ambassador of the French cancan to European capitals. She was revolutionary in the modern dance scene.

We think that through her personal story, it is easier to understand the importance of cabaret, its history, and the different ideas it defends. This will help us understand the importance of cabaret as a place of refuge and expression for people who are discriminated against. So: what is the legacy of Jane Avril? 

Jane Avril’s childhood and her beginning 

Jane Avril, whose real name was Jeanne Louise Beaudon, was born on June 9, 1868 and died on January 17, 1943. Jane was raised by her abusive mother. At the age of 13, she was committed to a psychiatric hospital called the Salpêtrière, for “ovarian hysteria”. At that time, the internment of women could easily be carried out at the request of fathers, husbands or even brothers for generally futile reasons such as refusal of marital duty, a refusal to do housework or even for reading novels.

In the case of Jane Avril, we understand through the various studies that have been carried out that she suffered from epilepsy.

It was therefore during her internment at the Salpêtrière that she discovered her passion for dance, more precisely during the Bal des Folles, which was an event where everyone in Paris was invited to a big ball in the company of the various hospitalized women. It was a sort of “human zoo”, in fact those women were exhibited for public therapy or hypnosis sessions. This event was an attraction for outsiders, it was also eagerly awaited for by women who were interned since it allowed them to briefly break away from the routine of their confinement.

It is during one of those events that Jane had a seizure, she started dancing like a “crazy woman”.

She saw dance as a soothing remedy. In fact, she grappled with the psychological challenges resulting from the mistreatment she endured through the medium of dance.

 Her success in the world of cabaret

Weakened by her trauma, illness, and various hospital stays, Jane attempted to end her life by throwing herself into the Seine. After her suicide attempt, she was taken in by the keeper of a Parisian brothel. She discovered the Parisian nightlife, where women were half dancers and half prostitutes. It was at the Bal Bullier that her career as a dancer began. She discovered she had a gift for dance, and was noticed for her style, her seductive movements and her outstanding personality.

In 1889, she met Charles Zilder, the founder of the Moulin Rouge. He decided to hire her in his cabaret. From the very beginning of her career, Jane set herself apart through her distinctive style by performing solo, and by crafting her own choreographies and costumes. She wore exclusively red underwear, whereas at the time dancers wore white underwear. 

She went on to become an emblematic figure of the French cancan. This new style of dance was introduced to cabarets by Joseph Oller. The ambition of the co-founder of Le Moulin Rouge was to create an entertainment venue with a new way of dancing in which the dancers lift their legs to reveal their underwear. Jane once again stood out for her style, with no vulgarity and more modesty. This was a point that she asserted herself, insisting that she was not a prostitute but a dancer.

She was also an emblematic figure in the works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a Montmartre artist who befriended Jane. He produced a large series of posters of Jane dancing. 

Mainly known for her roles at the Moulin Rouge, she also made her mark on other Parisian stages such as the Décadents, the Divan Japonais, and the Folies Bergère. She was known as Melinite, the name of an explosive, referring to her exaltation for dancing. She represented the embodiment of dance. On stage, she transmitted great energy and grace and was seen as an acrobatic dancer.

Jane Avril, a Lasting Influence

Artistic Legacy 

Jane Avril has left a lasting artistic legacy, thanks in large part to the pictorial representations by artist Toulouse-Lautrec, who took her as one of his muses.

Toulouse-Lautrec’s iconic works highlight Jane Avril’s magnetic presence on stage and her contribution to the art of the French cancan. Her unique style and charisma are vividly captured in these paintings, making her an icon of the era. A notable aspect of Jane Avril’s legacy is her role in the evolution of the French cancan. With her energy and presence on stage, she left a lasting impression with her solos. Her innovative approach opened new possibilities for dancers to express themselves individually and showcase their unique talents. In fact, it is thanks to her that we have the tradition of solo dancers wearing red stockings. Originally a demand on her part, it has now become a customary attire for all solo dancers in the French cancan.

Artistic Innovation

The collaboration between Jane Avril and Toulouse-Lautrec also contributed to the emergence of Art Nouveau, an artistic movement characterized by its inventiveness, organic motifs inspired by nature, and bold use of colors. The striking images of Jane Avril dancing, immortalized by Toulouse-Lautrec, served as inspiration for many Art Nouveau artists to create posters and illustrations that captured the energy and vitality of dance. Toulouse-Lautrec’s poster depicting Jane Avril dancing with an expression of joy and vivacity has become one of the most iconic images of Art Nouveau. This poster, with its fluid lines, vibrant colors, and floral motifs, perfectly embodies the aesthetics of this artistic movement.

Contemporary Influence 

Jane Avril has directly and indirectly influenced contemporary dance as an inspiring model. The fundamental values of contemporary dance include the liberation of the body, creativity, and expressiveness, all of which Jane Avril embodied in her own dance. For example, contemporary choreographer Marie Chouinard drew inspiration from Jane Avril to create choreographies that explore freedom of movement and bodily expression. In her performances, Chouinard uses expressive gestures and postures, while playing with the stage space in a similar way to Jane Avril. Similarly, Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui draws inspiration from Jane Avril’s innovative approach to create pieces that blend tradition and modernity, integrating elements of historical dance into a contemporary context.

Social legacy

19th-century society forbade women the slightest desire of ambition and freedom, and Jane Avril’s journey goes against this assertion. She broke the rules and had an impact on changing the vision of the role of women in society especially in cabaret. She made it clear she was not a prostitute but just a dancer. At a time when women conformed to what society expected of them, Jane was provocative and created a new representation of women. She refused to conform to the expectations and the traditional conventions of the cabaret dance. By dancing alone she showed that a woman can be autonomous, expressive, and creative, inspiring many women to break away from the roles they had been assigned for years.

The complicated childhood of Jane Avril led her to discover dance and cabaret. A place in which social norms are often set aside. It also allowed her to find a place to assert herself and confront her mental health. During her career, she set herself apart from the rest for her style and made an impact on the artistic and social aspects, leaving behind a strong and lasting legacy that remains a benchmark still to this day.

The Courrier of St Petersburg: an Equestrian Tradition

By Pierre Ayel and Sylvie

Scène de cirque
Croquis d’homme tenant un cheval
Serge Choubine (1900-1931)

Dear  readers, 

Have you recently seen, in the Théâtre de la cité, the new show of the circus company Baro d’Evel? If you saw it, you may have been, like me, surprised by the apparition of a horse on the stage. But, after having read this article, you will see that horses and circus have been linked since the end of the eighteenth century. 

At that time in England, the royal law, with the 1737 Licensing Act, allowed only three venues to perform “legitimate theater”. So, these royal venues and the king’s theater companies who had the license had a monopoly on real drama, which was spoken theater. All the others had only the possibility to perform “public dancing and music” and “other public entrainements of the like kind”.

To pass off the prohibition and perform real drama, one man, Philip Astley, an equestrian, following the success of trick-riding displays, started to organize equestrian shows. He adapted common stories and plays in a way where trained horses performed the leading roles of a drama, carrying out the plot. The first show on the legitimate stage of London was performed in February 1811. Hippodrama was born. This new kind of pantomime had a great international success: Astley had his own circus in London, as did some of his rivals, and cities around the world like New-York, Philadelphia, Sydney or St Petersburg. 

During this creative and successful period for hippodrama, some other equestrians became famous. One of them, Andrew Ducrow named “the colossus of equestrian performers” created an equestrian performance which became so famous that it’s still performed today. This performance named ‘The Courier of St.Petersburg” tells the story of a courier who crosses Europe country by country to reach their goal. The horses have flags that represent the countries crossed by the courier during this imaginary itinerary. The equestrian stands on two galloping horses, one foot on each of them forming a human bridge. The horses gallop under her/his legs and she/he has to grab long reins on their back. 

At first, Ducrow did this equestrian feat with five horses, but others developed it up to thirteen galloping horses. At that point the whole circus ring is full of galloping horses forming a spiral in motion for a few seconds. Then, the horses disappear, leaving the spectators with this last impression.  

So dear readers, next time you see horses on a stage, don’t be surprised! 

Sources:

https://www.artcena.fr/sites/default/files/medias/pdf/Magazine/Portraits/art.ap20-07.pdf

https://www.artcena.fr/magazine/reperes/cirque/focus-cirque/et-lhomme-cheval-crea-le-cirque-moderne

https://www.britannica.com/art/circus-theatrical-entertainment/General-characteristics#ref888055

https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/11906?lang=en

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/special-collections-heritage-and-archives/national-fairground-and-circus-archive

http://www.wakingthedead.org/andrew-ducrow.html

http://expositions.bnf.fr/cnac/grand/cir_2416.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Ducrow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippodrama

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_Theatre

Let’s Leave the Decks to Women!

By Clémence Léo and Lyna


In this article, we are going to talk about the place of women DJs in electronic music. We are a group of three students who chose to work on this subject because we regularly go to electronic music events and we have women DJs as friends. We are witnesses of the difficulties they face as women in a predominantly male sector and we want to understand the causes for the underrepresentation of female artists in electronic music scenes.
In this context, we came up with the following question: why is it so hard to be a woman DJ in the electronic music world and what difficulties do they have to face? Then, we will see what actions are set up to make women DJs visible in the city of Toulouse.
To answer these questions, we first did research about the history of electronic music and about the statistics that identify inequalities in programmation. We also went to an event and we did an interview to learn more about the actions that are put in place in Toulouse to make women DJs more visible.


Since the 1960s, with the arrival of the electric guitar, there is a link between technology and masculinity. Mavis Bayton, the author of the book Frock Rock: Women Performing Popular Music (2011) talks about the fact that, historically, “many girls played the acoustic guitar and sang […] but the idea of playing the electric guitar was alien to them.” The electronic dance music scene evolved in the early 1980s and the use of machines and digital music technologies became an essential precondition for DJ music making. As we can see, there is a symbolic association between technology and masculinity, men and machines in society in general and in electronic dance music scenes in particular.
In chapter 3 of the book DJ Culture in the Mix: Power, Technology, and Social Change in Electronic Dance Music1, the authors explain that “across historical, local and cultural contexts, DJ cultures have been, and continue to be, overwhelmingly “male dominated”.” The authors conducted a fieldwork among DJs in Berlin, Stockholm, London and Vienna, and observed that “male DJs constituted the majority of DJs in the electronic music scene […] The majority of the “big names” among international and local DJs remain male, scoring the top positions on DJ lists and representing music genres despite the growing presence of female DJs.” In the same book, a female DJ based in Berlin declared that “there are a lot of girl DJs but the thing is that there are still a lot of men in business […] most of the party organizers, the club owners, promotion people are guys.”


A study of the CNM (Centre National de Musique) shows that in 2019 in electronic music, only 11% of the gender lead are women.

Graph 1 – Gender lead (issued by the CNM, Centre National de Musique)


There is no equality between men and women in the programming of electronic music events, but also in the profession of programmers. Indeed, the job is largely dominated by men. In this context, it may be hard for women to dare to start as DJs and to feel confident and legitimate in a male environment full of stereotypes. The authors of DJ Culture in the Mix: Power, Technology, and Social Change in Electronic Dance Music explain the scarcity of women artists by the “gendered social construction of technology” and the “images of male artist/musician/producer/entrepreneur and the sexualized images of (young) women […]. The history of music, regardless of genre, has been shaped by a mutually constituting relationship between technology and masculinity, with exclusionary effects for women who wish to become musicians, DJs and/or music producers”.

We met Camille Mathon, the artistic director of the feminist association “La petite”, created to highlight women artists. In our interview, she told us about the resistance to programming women.

“Resistance was observed among programmers. What came up a lot was that people said: ‘We would like to program women but there are none’.”

Camille Mathon
Artistic director of “La Petite”



The association “La petite” runs the “Girls Don’t Cry” project. They act for a larger representation of women on the electronic scene and want to show that women DJs exist, that they are active and talented contrary to what some programmers may say.

La petite organizes the Girls Don’t Cry festival which is an exclusively female festival. They act by creating events but also by fighting against sexual and gender-based violence. In the world of electronic music by setting up training workshops for example.

During our interview, Camille told us how precious the associations that specialize in feminist actions are:

“We prefer several independent actions. This is consistent with our values of self-determination. It is the strength of our feminist network in France, to have different structures. This does not prevent us from being connected, we know each other’s associations.”

Camille Mathon
Artistic director of La Petite


In Toulouse, some feminist initiatives are put in place to help women artists to be more visible and more confident. We went to an event called Les Halles de la Cartoucherie X Kaonashi dedicated to women and non-binary or trans people in electronic music in Toulouse. A workshop was organized to introduce the female audience to mixing and there was a round table about the representation of women on the Toulouse electronic scene in the afternoon. A lot of feminist collectives were present, including programmers, artists, media, university researchers etc. This discussion allowed professional women in the electronic music sector to exchange experiences and findings to provide solutions.Among them, a member of the collective Freessons which acts to create inclusive events to talk about feminist movements in rave parties, noticed an adjacent problem : “Today, programmers invite women DJs just to give a positive image of their event with a female quota but women still get booked for the warm-up and are not recognized for their talent.” Indeed, we noticed that most of the time, when women are programmed, they play at the beginning of the party and men do the closing. This fact shows that women are not enough considered for their music and not much valued in electronic music events and they might feel illegitimate to professionalize as DJs.

“If we program at least 50% of women or show a 10% change from the previous year to reach parity, we have access to fundings from the local authorities. But all culture fundings in the area have this rule so instead, it is if people do not follow the rule that they’re going to lose money”

Camille Mathon
Artistic director of La Petite

Therefore, women DJs feel they might be programmed to an event just to fill in the “female quota” and not for their talent because programmers could get funding by respecting women-men equality in their programming. This may be considered as a step forward, but it is important to question the place of female artists beyond their mere presence.
The presence of several members of women collectives in the event Les Halles de la Cartoucherie X Kaonashi shows that the city of Toulouse is committed to give a place to women artists.


Here are some examples of the collectives that were present, with the objectives of their actions:


FREES.SONS:
It is composed of five women. Their objective is to create inclusive events to talk about feminist movements in rave parties (for example eco-feminism).

S.OROR:
This collective is composed of 8 women. They are artists and organizers and they create events to program and to gain visibility.

WOMEN BASS:
This association creates events promoting the place of women in the world of bass music.

WOMEN METRONUM ACADEMY:
This initiative was created by The Metronum, a concert hall in Toulouse. It’s a training workshop intended for women who would like to develop a personal musical project. In this training, it’s possible for women to meet programmers and legitimize themselves to build their career as artists and also to be more confident in their artistic practices.

=> All these initiatives exist in other cities in France and Europe and testify of changes in society to create a movement for the place of women DJs in electronic music. By making round tables, creating women-only events, making women artists more visible, we progressively create changes. All these initiatives such as feminist events, vindications and the creation of new collectives and training contribute to make things evolve. The studies and the statistics help to highlight the remaining inequality, and it’s important to talk about these problems which are found in many areas of society.

  1. DJ Culture in the Mix: Power, Technology, and Social Change in Electronic Dance Music, Bernardo Alexander Attias, Anna Gavanas, Hillegonda Rietveld, 2013, Continuum Publishing Corporation. ↩︎





Non-Dance: a French Revolution

by Frédéric and Garance

1995. On stage, a naked woman exposes her intimacy and flesh as material to be explored. At the performance of Jérôme Bel’s eponymous play, the critic and journalist Dominique Buffard, without a doubt disoriented by what she saw, described this work as “non-danse“. Although Orazio Massaro was considered as the precursor of this movement in 1990, it was in the early 2000s that a trend began to emerge: in several dance performances, or at least those labelled as such, there was little or no dance.

“No to gratuitous gesture! No to scenery! No to costumes! No lighting effects!” These principles laid down by dancer and choreographer Boris Charmatz were applied on French stages in the works of Alain Buffard (Good Boy, 1998), Christian Rizzo (100% Polyester, objet dansant n°(à définir)) and Maguy Marin (Turba, 2007). 

Most non-dance choreographers were performers in the eighties, the period of La Nouvelle Danse Française, also known as Jeune Danse Française. La Nouvelle Danse Française sought to break free from the codes of both modern and classical dance, and while it was based on an egalitarian approach, it also encouraged the singularity of its creators.

In 1981, Jack Lang, a theater man, was appointed Minister of Culture by François Mitterrand. The government was banking on choreographic development to help French talents emerge. The French government then starts a policy of decentralisation and Jack Lang creates institutions to facilitate creation all over the territory. Choreographers received their first grants and made experiments. This marked the emergence of the Centres Chorégraphiques Nationaux (CCN), run by French artists who wanted to move towards a model of equality in social relations. This was the beginning of what is known as contemporary dance, a dance offering a sensitive experience for both performers and spectators.

Unfortunately, this institutionalisation of art created a new academicism. The choreographers of La Nouvelle Danse Française had shaped their repertoire and by the end of the nineties their dancers rebeled.

Non-dance is rooted in this process of rebellion, pushing the choreographer’s thoughts to the point of developing creations in which dance movement disappears. Theatre, literature, visual arts, music, video, film, projections- the subject is no longer dance but the body. The body becomes fundamental in its own right. It is no longer just a tool to be mastered, but a medium through which a form of presence is expressed. Movement is becoming rarer, resisting the projection, dynamism and bodily expressiveness that were over-emphasised in the eighties. More intimate, more sensitive, bodies move less and space is emptied to question the very need to dance.

By re-evaluating the very notion of dance and placing the presence or disappearance of the body at the heart of their experiments, artists have helped to change the contemporary choreographic landscape. Dance performances in which the creative process is at work are less confusing for audiences in the venues where they are performed. Hybrid forms of performances begin to appear in theatre programmings.

The authors behind this shift have in fact not given up on dance. Thanks to their research and reflections, they have imposed new methods of creation. By questioning the parameters of dance shows, they have brought choreographic works closer to visual installations or performative theater. The dancers’ bodies are freed from the demands of movement conditioned by the performance. Gestures no longer necessarily emanate from the choreographer alone, the brilliant creator above the dancers. By shaking up the codes, choreographers have also imposed the idea that a performance is not an object that spectators watch passively: in a generous, if sometimes radical, approach, they have invited spectators to broaden their perception of a play and to participate in it. 

Above all, choreographers have continued to tell human stories through and with dance, and to make choreographic art more than ever in touch with the world. And French contemporary dance, following the example of Yvonne Rainer who brought American contemporary dance into the postmodern period with the No Manifesto in 1964, has made its own revolution.

Sources:

Articles

CAIRN, « « Non-danse »  déconstructions postmodernes »: « Non-danse » déconstructions postmodernes | Cairn.info

Introducing Orazio Massaro, non-dance precursor : Orazio Massaro

Centre Pompidou « Danse ou non-danse : par où la danse ? »: 6. Danse ou non-danse: par où la danse?

Le Monde, article by Rosita Boisseau- April 25 2009 : Dans beaucoup de spectacles de danse, on ne danse plus

Books

Danse et non-danse, vingt-cinq ans d’histoires by Dominique Frétard, Édition Cercle d’Art, 2004.

Videos

The “Nouvelle Danse Française” of the 1980s| Numeridanse tv

https://www.numeridanse.tv/videotheque-danse/retrospective-1996?s

https://www.numeridanse.tv/videotheque-danse/retrospective-2001?s

Is Drag Culture Giving Clowns a New life?

Kinder-Garten © ranobrac

Outrageous makeup, a cringing sense of humor, entertaining contents with a political dimension – drag artists and clowns have a lot in common. Even though they have their own existences and history, clowns have been inspiring drag artists  for years. More than just an inspiration, it’s about taking ownership.

The word “clown” was coined during the 17th century in England. From fair protagonists to circus icons, clowns slowly started to leave the circus tent to become iconic figures of pop culture. Far from the entertainment they were originally assigned to, clowns became one of the best known horror figures. Killer clowns are everywhere, mostly in books and movies like for example IT by Andrés Muschietti (2017) but also in real life in attraction parks and escape game rooms. The clown figure has also been reappropriated by political movements in the 90s. 

In Joker by Todd Philip the word “clown” is used by stigmatized colored people in NY to describe themselves by how they’re treated by cops and society.  The word “drag queen” also comes from the UK. During the last decade drag has seen its visibility  increase with the TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race and alternative shows like The Boulet Brothers Dragula (rejecting the pageant codes of Drag Race).

ClubKids appeared in the 90’s with clubbing culture. Even if they claim they belong to drag art, they’re destroying  gender codes with a more infantile and preposterous aesthetic really inspired by clown’s influence.

Tiggy Thorn © ranobrac

“For years I’ve been thinking about becoming a teacher, then I realized I hate children, so I decided to become a child by myself.” 

Tiggy Thorn, co-founder of Kindergarten party, in Tracks, April 2019

Another example of drag art meeting clown figures is the 8th episode of the 4th season of The Boulet Brothers Dragula.  The challenge was to make a Floorshow, a kind of performative and narrative runway on Killer Clowns figure. Each  finalist decided on their own interpretation during the performance – popcorn clown, tramp, Korean theater clown or sad  pantomime, which shows the diversity of horror clown figures, their influence and the ability for the artist to take  ownership of those codes.

One of the contestants, Dahli, definitely built their drag character on clown codes. Dahli confessed during the show that they were fascinated by clowncore to the point that they developed a sort of clown kink. 

Dahli © Darina.Doolittle

Clowns and drag artists are kinds of cousins in their own artistic dynamics. They both use the image of buffoons and  freaks they’ve been reduced to in order to claim their messages on stage. In a society where LGBTQIA+ people are  still stigmatized and oppressed it seems logical to take the dusty clown figure out of the closet to give it a new life. 

Thearseniek © ranobrac

“I’m a clown for Adults.” 

Le Filip, in Divergente podcast, 2019

Kinder-Garten © ranobrac

Adapting Classical Texts in Puppet Theatre

The Example of the Belova-Iacobelli Company through Three of their Shows

by Soizic Kukla

Pierre-Yves Jortay (source: company website)

The Belova-Iacobelli Company was born from a meeting in 2012 between Tita Iacobelli and Natacha Belova in Santiago (Chile) as part of the Festival La Rebelión de Los Muñecos. In the same city, in 2015, they created a research laboratory around contemporary puppet theatre.

Tita Iacobelli started in 2001 as an actress. In 2005 she became involved in the company Viajeinmóvil (created by Jaime Lorca) as co-director, actress and puppeteer. She teaches in puppet workshops and has toured in different countries with several shows.

Natacha Belova is a historian by training. She was born in Russia and has lived in Belgium since 1995. It was as a costume designer and scenographer that she took her first steps in the performing arts, then specialized in the art of puppetry. She works on different projects, theater, dance, circus, cinema, opera, as well as exhibitions. In 2016 she created a research and training center “IFO asbl” in Brussels on puppetry arts. In 2017, she directed her first production.

In 2015, Tita Iacobelli and Natacha Belova decided to stage their first show “Tchaïka”. The first performance took place in June 2018 at the Festival La Rebelión de Los Muñecos. This show is freely inspired by Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. The form of interpretation is a single actress-puppeteer on stage, Tita Iacobelli, and a puppet: “Tchaïka addresses the theme of the violence of old age, the loss of memory, the loneliness of retirement, and the richness in human subjectivity through the poetic imagination of an actress. This show is built on a permanent tension between masterpieces of classical theatre, puppet theatre and choreographed movement,” as stated by the note of intent on the company’s online website. They add:

“It is a play that describes impatient and radical young artists, but also the older generation that is happy with keeping the positions they acquired. […] It also deals with mutual misunderstanding, cruel troubles of fate. Finally, it is a play about the search for ‘true meaning’ without which life is only arduousness and horror”.

The second show, “Loco” was presented for the first time in Charleville-Mézières (Ardennes) during the Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionettes in 2021. I attended the performance in a gymnasium that had been reorganized for the occasion. The interpretation brings together two actress-puppeteers, Tita Lacobelli and Marta Pereira (a puppeteer and graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières). This creation is freely inspired by Nicolaï Gogol’s Diary of a Fool.  The note of intent of the show indicates:

Through the story of this little employee and Gogol’s life, we will question our own solitudes, desires, frustrations and troubles in the face of what is established and reasonable […], the vital need to acquire a rewarding place within society while noting the absurdity of its values, the identity conflict between “being” and “appearing” constantly stirred by the demands of seduction and performance that surround us”.

Natacha Belova, the director explains:

“The starting point was a memory of a staging of TheDiary of a Madman, seen in the Soviet Union in 1990. My father staged it in his little theater in Russia and he himself played the role of Popritchine, the madman. This show was not a great success, but I remember especially the silence after Popritchine’s last monologue when he wants to rest on his mother’s chest away from the taunts of men, from his desk, from the beatings of the stick inflicted on him in the asylum, away from his own delusions. My father, a little man sitting on the floor in the middle of a cardboard set, his big blue eyes frozen on the projector of his small theatre; the light was too dim and the audience seemed to grow larger in this great silence. I have many other, more honourable memories of my father: director, actor, eloquent teacher, a great man. But why does memory send me back this miserable image more often? […] Our intention is to mix the fiction of the story with the reality of its author who lived a solitary life in voluntary exile far from Russia. […] It is not a play in praise of madness as a pathology, but a need to “reshuffle the cards”, to get out of the usual discourse, to seek a new axis of view on reality. Leaving behind the usual logic, to dream of something else.”

The intention on the festival program stated only, “Poprichtchin loves Sophie, the daughter of his boss. Except that he himself is at the bottom of the ladder. But what if he was actually King Ferdinand VIII of Spain. This is the story of a crazy love.”

At first, I knew only one thing: the play was about madness, the story of a man and loneliness –why would I go see such a show, especially at the end of a day on the festival? But, well, I still had a ticket on my festival package and then it was a “recommended” show, so without little conviction, I decided to go! It was a revelation. The two puppeteers (loose, long hair and black clothes) manipulated the puppet together on a human scale: his face has a tormented human expression, his chin is mobile. The only other elements – his torso, his arms, his legs– are those of the puppeteers who are also actresses and as the story unfolds, they play with their bodies. The audience smile and laugh at the way their hair becomes a dog for a moment. Accessories also enter the game such as the bed, sheets or a suitcase. Light effects reinforce this solitude. A giant ball of paper expresses the weight of the character’s loneliness and stress. A show to see for its exploration of the thread of emotion, tenderness, distress, madness.

The company’s 2022 creation is street theatre. The puppet is still the focal point, but this time in the form of a moving visual element, “It is a performance project that consists of evoking a mythical figure in urban consumption spaces to create a poetic disturbance in a commercial movement,” according to the note of intent. In “Sisypholia” the central element is a giant ball made up of a multitude of clothes. This ball is rolled in busy places like shopping streets or shopping centers…

“Our Sisyphus will roll this giant ball of clothes down one or more streets, until he reaches a point where the ball will return to the starting point. Sisyphus, fully aware of the absurdity of his effort, will repeat the same task over and over again, without hope or intention of transcendence, with discipline and vitality. And just like Camus’s Sisyphus, he is happy to accept this reality, in a perfectly absurd way. We wanted to talk about our daily desires for consumption. We have looked for a way that allows us to address this theme without placing ourselves in a moralistic position or a role of giving lessons. Freely inspired from the myth of Sisyphus we imagined a strange puppet figure who will embark on an absurd and repetitive quest, in an environment unsuited to his approach in order to create a slight disturbance. An image that leaves room for free interpretation, that blurs the tracks of understanding, but will create a blank, a pause, a disturbance of meaning in the daily movement of a crowd. This is not about caricature nor aggression. Instead, we want to create a chaotic and disproportionate object that would be a kind of ironic creator of chaos capable of extracting us from the compulsive rhythm of our society.

The public premieres took place in Toulouse from Wednesday 5 to Saturday 8 October 2022 on the busy shopping street rue d’Alsace Lorraine, as part of the programming of “La Biennale Internationale des Arts Vivants.” It was free and lasted for 40 minutes. Natacha Belova and Dorian Chavez directed the staging. Natacha Belova designed the ball. Dorian Chavez (an Ecuadorian artist) was Sisyphus.

The creations of the company Compagnie Belova-Iacobelli have a link. The conclusion of the proposals of these shows are not in the closed form of a period or an exclamation mark, or even a question, or three dots. The conclusion is in the hands of the spectators, where to place the cursor of values, their own and those of others.

Sources: 

Company website:  www.belova-iacobelli.com

– www.belova-iacobelli.com/tchaika

– www.belova-iacobelli.com/loco

-www.belova-iacobelli.com/sisypholia

Facebook site: /www.facebook.com/Chaikateatro

World Puppet Festival website: https://festival-marionnette.com

Philip Astley

The Father of Modern Circus

by Fiona Labbé

In this article, I would like to speak about a man considered as the father of modern circus: Philip Astley. In the 1750s in England, the first equestrian exhibitions appeared. Jacob Bates was the first man who showcased equestrian exhibitions in a circular space. A few years later, in 1768 (a date that marks the beginning of the modern circus), Philip Astley created his own equestrian show: he made his first parade and his first show in London. He was a former military equestrian who gave riding lessons during the day, and proposed equestrian shows during the night. He is considered as the father of modern circus because, on top of equestrian exhibitions, he added small clown shows with young men amusing the audience by failing to ride horses.

Then, in 1770, Philip Astley created the first wooden riding hall he called Amphitheatre Riding House. Furthermore, he had the idea of putting sawdust on the ground to avoid mud and to outline the track in the riding hall with a rope and pegs and he rethought its structure to make it transportable. Finally, with this structure, he toured France where he imported the concept.

Philip Astley’s students did important things for the circus as well. For example, Charles Hugues was the first man to use the word « circus » which had not been used since the Middle Ages when he created the Royal Circus Academy in 1782. Then, there is John Bill Ricketts who opened the first American circus in 1792 in Philadephia.

MPL

“For us, nostalgia is a game”

MPL is a pop music band composed of 5 artists: Cedric, Julien, Arthur, Andreas and Manuel. But MPL is much more than 5 men falling in love with the same woman named Lucette. Lucette, a.k.a. Lulu disappears. She becomes their muse, their imagination, their mystery. So, they bring her to life through a parchment scroll, they tell her story like a tale and make their feelings about the loss of their lover and friend evaporate little by little from their lives.

Who is Lucette? Who is this bewitching woman who stole the first pure love of these 5 men?  Is she really dead or has she simply vanished out of the world? Thanks to heady and catchy melodies on guitar tunes, poetic texts overflowing with images and landscapes they also approach the deconstruction of grief and virility – this toxic virility that avoids any type of expression and feeling. They also have fun leaving some doubt about the veracity of this story and turn it into a myth that haunts them.

Their first album, Ma pauvre Lucette released in 2015, is a compilation of all their feelings collected for this woman, an untidy drawer full of the obsession and the enigma that she represents. During their tour for this album they offered more than concerts, but real theatrical epics that took us through the different stages of mourning. You were taken to a funeral ceremony led by a curious guru, who arrived on stage with a strange urn. The other 4 members arrived in turn, a sullen look on their faces. They went through a ritual, the guru put lipstick (probably Lulu’s) on their faces. They then belonged to the same group, the same “sect” in search of the truth about Lulu and her story. The urn is supposed to contain Lulu’s ashes, which you could see, which they ate and they threw at the audience. You then witnessed the collective mourning of 5 friends, where nostalgia and sorrow were transformed into joy and resilience. Between the song “Elle dit”, where they invited the audience to dance with a little choreography, and “Lulu”, which told us more about this woman, or “Déjeuner du matin”, taken from Jacques Prévert’s poem in a more than intimate atmosphere, MPL’s songs take us through all kinds of emotions and moments. “Requiem” is a nostalgic, sad and painful song where each member of the band shows their deepest and darkest emotions staged with frenetic lights… They show us in this way, in their own way how Lulu turned their lives upside down. MPL is all that, and it is her.

They are much more than a music band, they are also storytellers, writers, scenographers, storytellers of emotions… MPL is a package that reminds us that feeling is not a shame, that mourning is not an end but the beginning of something else, the beginning of a new self.

The Art of Hair Hanging

By Anna Marcadet

The art of hair hanging uses ancestral techniques of suspension by the hair. Its history seems to be unclear and it’s hard to find information. Although most circus performers believe that this art comes from Asia – from China more precisely – and appeared in the 90s, others describe it as an old discipline or a fairground attraction. I have even heard that these performances came from imaginary legends and freaks shows. 

We can argue that hair hanging is a rare discipline and that few people practice it nowadays. Indeed, the discipline flourished by being showed many times, especially by Chinese men, at the beginning of the Twentieth century. Ayala’s family has been a circus family for 3 decades. They made this type of art more visible by performing the craziest attractions in the circus Barnum & Bailey. Although Ayala’s family has continued to perform this art, it had become almost totally forgotten until about 5 years ago. A few people continue to practice it. Sometimes described as a weird and scary show, this traditional act became popular again thanks to two performances: in 2020, Lindsey Sterling released the music video Crystalize as part of the video series Home for the Holidays. Also, the show Capilotractées by the Galapiat Circus, was very much publicised, debated and covered in the media.

«It’s a practice that is transmitted, not learned at school. » The transmission is done within families, from mothers to daughters. Nowadays, it is possible to find some workshops (Ingrid Esperanza) but they are still very rare. Some people think that this art can only be transmitted and cannot be learned whereas others are afraid of the dangers of transmission because of the possible lack of useful information: for example hair hanging can be dangerous for health and hurt your neck or spine.

It is an intriguing and interesting practice even if it is very painful. In a unique way, it leaves a completely free body contrary to other aerials practices. When you are watching this type of aerial act, it really seems to be easy to practice. In fact, this act requires a lot of strength and skills especially when the entertainer shows a whirling.

Hair itself represents femininity and power. It is a “complex material that we can consider as dead or alive” (Sanga Kosonen, circus artist of the Galapiat circus). We also need to know that, technically, a single strand of hair is able to carry 100 g, that we’ve got approximately 150 000 hairs on our skull so that we can lift about 15 tons with our hair.

The steps necessary to prepare oneself for this kind of entertainment are interesting. Indeed, before anything else, artists need to take care of their hair and scalp and have a special diet. When performing they need to have their hair wet before braiding it to have more elasticity and to reduce the pain. Also, they braid their hair in a specific way which needs to be adapted to the apparatus: a ring or a hook.

Finally, the art of the hair hang is a well-guarded world in which there are lots of secrets and lies. Indeed, there are secrets surrounding the way to learn how to practice this art and also about hairstyling according to the type of braiding.

Some artists who perform this art are: Phenix Circus (Eva Szwarcer), Circus Galapiat (Sanja Kosonen, Elice Abonce Muhonen), Erin Blaire, Pamela Pantoja or Collectif Merken, Cabaret 2000, Plaisir Circus, Erin Blaire, Marion Crampe, Ingrid Esperanza, Ramiro Erburu, Lindsey Sterling, Cirque du Soleil (Danila Bim).

Check out for yourself! Watch this video about the art of hair hanging: Passion extrême : l’art de se suspendre par les cheveux – Vidéo Dailymotion

Sources and useful links:

De l’art du cirque carrément tiré par les cheveux ! (ouest-france.fr)

Interview de Stéphane Ricordel – Théatre du Châtelet (chatelet.com)

« Bien sûr que ça fait mal » | BIKINI MAG

Capilotractées – Manège de Reims (manege-reims.eu)

Ingrid Esperanza – CAPILOTRACTÉE WORKSHOPS

Science de la suspension des cheveux: Comment certains artistes pendent-ils par les cheveux? (scienceabc.com)

Comment fonctionne la pendaison des cheveux | HowStuffWorks

Passion extrême : l’art de se suspendre par les cheveux – Vidéo Dailymotion

Lindsey Sterling, Crystalize, Home for Holidays. URL: Lindsey Stirling – Crystallize (from Home For The Holidays) – YouTube

FREE PARTIES WILL NEVER DIE

A short recap of the history of free parties

How have free parties established themselves in European culture, and how cracking down on free parties has made them stronger?

by Ppk23

Free Party “Tekno drop zone”, somewhere in France, July 2022 (Photo credit: Ppk23)

Free parties have a complex and tormented story.

First and foremost, free parties are illegal parties – they can sometimes be legal if they respect certain rules – that usually happen outdoors, on the initiative of a group named a “sound system”, composed of artists, musicians, technicians, circus performers and other people, all gathered in order to set up musical events around tekno culture (techno or tekno, the spelling depends on the musical genre/style played). They are political events that entail rules and values like respect, self-care, solidarity, multiculturalism, and obviously the love of music. There are different genres and musical styles, from techno to hardcore, including acid, gabber or tribal house music. DJs come to play their set and share a great moment with the audience.

In fact, these parties were born in England in the second half of the 1980s, as a form of protest against the repressive policy of the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In that period, acid house found its way into the English clubs directly from Detroit, United States, the cradle of techno. But “the Iron lady” tried to stop this new musical culture by passing a law in 1987 that forced clubs to close their doors at 2 am. That repressive law and the industrial crisis led to the beginning of rave parties, as they were called in this context, that took place in abandoned sheds all over the kingdom. Those parties were illegal and limitless. The goal was to create free moments in secret places, meet strangers without constraints and societal norms. The sound was louder and harder than in a club, ravers were dressed as they wished and parties continued until the next day.

Then, in 1990 one of the first techno sound systems in London, the “Spiral tribe 23”, appeared. They made their first event that year, and began to travel all around the country, becoming nomads. In 1994 they were judged in a trial for “conspiracy to cause public nuisance” and even if they won the case, they decided to leave England and move to France. There, they organized parties, bringing on their own culture, norms and rules in France as well as the Czech Republic with the first teknival. They wanted to create “free” parties because they thought people had to enjoy their nights and dance freely, without trying to fit into societal standards. “Free” of course doesn’t mean they’re free of charge but that they get rid of some limits and control. They have implanted values, such as respect, nomadism and a free attitude, and have marked the beginning of the free party culture. Thanks to them, parties have been called “Free parties” since 1995.

A year later came the “Heretik” sound system, the first really famous French group, which revolutionized the history of free parties. Indeed, in 2001, they organized a big free party in an abandoned swimming pool in Paris, the Molitor. 2000 ravers came illegally during the night to celebrate one of the most famous free parties ever in the heart of the city. Moreover, the event took a long time for preparation, something like several weeks. The organizers had to disguise themselves to pass for workers in order to clean the spot and install the equipment before ravers came. The free party then became “pirate”, even if it was already a protest movement.

But the French government didn’t like it, and in 2001 member of the French Parliament Thierry Mariani passed a law, “l’amendement Mariani”, which required the declaration of events in a prefecture in order to suppress free parties. Nobody took heed of it and free parties and tekno culture became a political fight. So a lot of sound systems were formed and settled in France, traveling all around the world in the summer to make music and dance together in different places.

Moreover, the free party movement is more and more recognized and defended. Some French lawyers have specialized in the survival of free parties, like Marianne Rostan who has been a lawyer in Paris since 2014. She notably denounced the terrible violence used by the police in 2021 at the Redon free party, where a lot of equipment was destroyed, and especially where a 22-year-old man lost his hand as he was simply defending himself in the fight (the case was dismissed). There are also some associations like Techno+ which focus on safety and prevention in parties by proposing chill spots on the sites and harm-reduction policies. They fight against the government to defend free parties and their values. There is also a legal support fund for sound systems, the “Fonds de Soutien aux Sound Systems” that allows organizers to survive thanks to donations.

In the span of 30 years free parties were invented, created and repressed, but they continue to evolve and survive thanks to a large community, their values and external help. Free parties will never die because no one can stop people from dancing.

SOURCES :

https://www.helloasso.com/associations/fonds-de-soutien-juridique-des-sons
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