Teaser
Presentation
Based on Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with the original music rearranged by Florence Caillon to transform it into a contemporary score, this performance features five circus dancers who form an astonishing community of swans.
A cross between an amorous illusion and a recognition of the other, Florence Caillon injects this legendary ballet with the circus, and the result is a bewitching new version that features a diversity of rich and compelling movements. Solos, duets, trios, and group movements are inspired by both animal and human behavior, and they explore the links that unite living beings and that create the foundations of their relationships. This lake, a metaphor for our world, evokes life’s fragility and reminds us of our interdependence with the living environment.
Both a composer of film music and a circus artist, Florence Caillon has created a choreographed style of circus that invites us to reconsider this iconic ballet’s imaginary landscape by further deepening the links between circus movement, choreography, and music.
Author, acrobat choreographer Florence Caillon
Original music based on Tchaïkovsky, by Florence Caillon (in collaboration with Xavier Demerliac)
Light design and technician Greg Desforges
Costumes Emmanuelle Huet and Florence Caillon
Acrobatic dance Lucille Chalopin, Marius Fouilland, Valentino Martinetti
Hand to hand balancing and acrobatic lifts Joaquin Medina-Caligari
Hand to hand balancing, acrobatic lifts, and dance Tasha Petersen
Production L’Eolienne circus choreography
Coproduction Archaos Pôle national circus center / 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie platform (La Brèche in Cherbourg and Le Cirque-Théâtre in Elbeuf) / CIRCa national circus center in Occitanie / Opéra de Rouen in Normandy / Théâtre de Rungis / Fontenay-en-Scènes / Onyx national theater for dance and circus arts in Saint-Herblain
Residencies CIRCa national circus center in Occitanie / La Grainerie de Balma creative space for circus and traveling arts / Le Moulin du Roc national theater in Niort / Théâtre Le Rive Gauche in Saint Etienne de Rouvray
"Florence Caillon was one of the first artists to express the choreographic dimension of the circus."
– La Terrasse
For 20 years, Florence Caillon's L'Éolienne company has been developing a language of the body that she calls choreographed circus. She is committed to choreographing the circus vocabulary using different expressions of the body and diverse dance writing principles.
Very quickly, Florence Caillon lost interest in the traditional circus prowess, preferring other methods of involving the body in performance that were freer and less competitive.
Through her creations, she deepens a fragmented approach to acrobatic movement where notions of fragility, softness, imbalance, momentum, and energy variation are the foundations of her circus language. She is seeking an acrobatic movement that exists in places of fragility, explores turning points, infiltrates flaws, and searches for the instinctive energies of the body. The presence given to the music and the use of voices in all their forms mark the identity of L'Éolienne. Florence Caillon is nourished by other disciplines (yoga, visual arts, theater), and as a composer (TV, cinema, live performance), she writes the music for all her pieces.