Home > Program > ELLE/S

ELLE/Scréation

  • L’Envolée Cirque

    France

    Aerial acrobatics

  • 1h10
    Ages 4 and up

Calendar

© Ian Grandjean
© Ian Grandjean

Presentation

ELLE/S questions the ambiguity of fusional relationships, especially between twins, and how these types of relationships can be both extremely rich and utterly confining. This exploration evokes the universal quest for identity and reflects our connection to the other, our solitudes, and our desire to be unique.

The audience is arranged in a circle and invited to enter a suspended world, an intimate and poetic universe located between shadow and light where bodies evolve between fusion and confusion.

The scenography is simultaneously refined and monumental. Created like a spider's web with 289 strings, it welcomes the two young women as they share the story of their intimacy through their unusual acrobatic evolutions.

Another presence comes to upset the balance of the duo. They are two, they are one, they are strong, but for how much longer...?

Writing and performance Pauline Barboux and Jeanne Ragu
Original music, soundscape, drums, and performance Cyril Hernandez
Staging consultant Thomas Costerg
Artistic oversight Catherine Dubois
Scenography Patrick Vindimian
Costumes Fanny Gautreau
Light design Thomas Costerg
Tent technician Laurent Barboux
Sound and light technician Samuel Deschamps
Head of production and development Marie Lorrain

Coproductions and residencies TFG/LP national circus center in Ile de France / CIRCa national circus center in Gers Occitane / Le Carré Magiquenational circus center in Brittany / Cirque Jules Verne national circus center in Amiens

With additional support from the Region Ile de France, the DRAC cultural agency for the Ile de France, BEAL, and the DGCA. This creation benefited from support from the Beaumarchais-SACD association.

"Assembled together, they draw poetic figures in the open air, which make of this duet a carnal sculpture, straight out of a Cocteau film."

– Médiapart

Co-founded by Michèle D’Angelo and Laurent Barboux, the L’Envolée Cirque company has been promoting circus arts and performing under tents since 1997.

They co-wrote Et Moi [And Me], which toured throughout Europe from 2002 to 2006.

In 2013, Pauline Barboux and Jeanne Ragu joined the company. These two aerial dancers, both graduates of the Académie Fratellini, use an innovative circus tool they call "the Quadrisse".

From that point on, two generations of artists and an itinerant technical team took up the challenge of sharing and transmitting their love of the circus. In this new form, L’Envolée Cirque went back on the road with the shows Tanda and Le voyage de Michü et Mr Lô.

In 2016, the company created the show Traits d’Union, and, in 2018, Pauline and Jeanne co-wrote Lichen, a small aerial performance for public spaces.

They are now presenting their 2020 creation ELLE/S under the big top. Having performed as a duet for more than ten years, they offer a superb example of suspended body-to-body work where one cannot hold without the other. Together, they establish a state of fluidity composed of balance, imbalance, counterbalance, and risk-taking. 

Website