He who falls
conception, set design, artistic direction: Yoann Bourgeois
artistic assistant during creation: Marie Fonte
lighting design: Adèle Grépinet
sound design: Antoine Garry
vocal work: Caroline Blanpied, Jean-Baptiste Veyret-Logerias, Natalie Pérez
costume design: Ginette/Sigolène Petey
technical manager: David Hanse
sound manager: Tania Volke
lighting manager: Julien Louisgrand
stage manager: Etienne Debraux
scenic design: Ateliers de la Maison de la Culture de Bourges, Pierre Robelin, Cen Constructions, Nicolas Picot (C3 Sud Est)
duration: 65’
performance: Marie Bourgeois, Yoann Bourgeois, Julien Cramillet, Jean-Yves Phuong and Sarah Silverblatt-Buser
device: suspended on four wires, a 6/6 square platform is transformed into a giant playground swing, with the troupe seeking equilibrium and balance
production: Yoann Bourgeois Art Company
Yoann Bourgeois Art Company is financed by the Ministère de la Culture - Direction Générale de la Création Artistique, the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and the Département de l’Isère.
photos: Studio AL, Kristīnes Madjares
With this project, I’m aiming to deepen a singular theatricality by radicalizing a preconceived opinion: a situation arises from a relationship of forces. The set that I designed is a simple floor that responds to a host of different mechanisms that play with a host of forces: balance, centrifugal force, sway… The five individuals represent a sort of reduced humanity, attempting to maintain balance atop an unstable ground. They are forced to be reactive to physical forces and can never initiate their own movement. As they push back in response, the multiple physical principles will lead to a wide variety of situations. My goal is to situate the drama atop this sharp crest. I aim to radically refine movement by emphasizing the intensity of a truth from the circus world: the performer is the vector of the forces that pass through him. He acts upon and translates the movements as they traverse him. While this motion of the body may based on circus movements, it is also a distinctive representation of mankind—so, we think man may not be at the center of the universe, there’s no reason for him to be occupying center stage. Atop my ideal circus stage—whether that particular circus exists or not—man is set on the same level as the animals and machines that are alongside him…
Yoann Bourgeois
Born in 1981, Yoann Bourgeois is an internationally renowned artist who works in the fields of dance, theatre, music, visual installation and audiovisual art. He breaks down barriers and creates a dialogue between artistic approaches and artistic spaces. Between 2004 and 2006, he studied at the National Center of Circus Art in Châlons-en-Champagne, which he attended alternately with the National Contemporary Dance Center in Angers. He is the only student to have followed this double curriculum. During this time he met Alexandre Del Perugia who introduced him to the idea of “play” in art and Kitsou Dubois for his research into weightlessness. He obtained his diploma in 2006. From 2006 to 2010, he worked alongside Maguy Marin as a permanent dancer of her company. Every summer since 2008, he sets up L’atelier du joueur, a nomadic space dedicated to the research of living art, bringing together artists from different fields. In 2010, the Company Yoann Bourgeois was founded as a result of these collaborations. In the same year, the MC2-Grenoble invited him to take over the Fort de la Bastille, where he creates “Cavale”. It is an immediate success. Bourgeois acquires a national reputation and become an associate artist of the MC2 - Grenoble. He then began a first cycle of creation around great musical works to study the “figure”, a classic element of circus writing, in the manner of motifs. This new writing allowed the circus to emancipate itself from the dominance of the “spectacular”. From this cycle came “Les Fugues”, “Petites danses spectaculaires pour un homme et un objet” and “L’art de la fugue”, based on the music of J.S. Bach. All these creations were widely praised by the public and the press. In 2023, Bourgeois launches a new program of teaching in circus schools. With the belief that circus artists must reclaim their heritage, this project, looks at the ways in which the circus can be learned so that a repertoire can emerge. In 2014 Bourgeois affirmed his particular interest in the body/force relationship as an endless source of drama. From this research will come “He who falls” for the Lion Dance Biennale and “Minuit” at the Théâtre de la Ville. In 2016, he was appointed director of the National Choreographic Center in Grenoble. He then became the first circus artist to direct a national institution dedicated to choreographic art. His work at the CCN2 is widely recognized for its capacity to open up and share, to break down disciplinary, social and territorial barriers. In 2017, the National Monuments Center invited him to perform in the Pantheon. This performance was an amazing success. The New York Times described him as a “dramatist of physics”. Later, Dominique Hervieu entrusts Bourgeois with the grand finale of the 18th Dance Biennale. Bourgeois regularly collaborates with prestigious companies such as the Nederlands Dans Theater and the Göteborg Opera. He has developed a variety of film projects with internationally renowned artists such as Coldplay, Harry Styles, FKA twigs, and Pink. His film “Les grands fantômes”, shot at the Pantheon and co-directed with Louise Narboni, has received numerous international awards. In 2022, he left the National Choreographic Center in Grenoble to concentrate on his new company Yoann Bourgeois Art Company and his own projects. Yoann Bourgeois continues to expand his creative universe. He has initiated new collaborations, notably in the world of fashion, design and audiovisual. He was nominated in the “best choreographer” category at the MTV music awards for the video clip “As it was” by Harry Styles. In 2023, he directed the Grammy Awards show for Harry Styles. As a prolific creator, he has some 60 projects to his name. In continuous evolution, he is currently working on an experimental creative space in the Chartreuse massif that will combine poetic research and environmental awareness. In 2024, he has received the Belgrade Dance Festival’s Jovan Ćirilov Award.
