Trànsits

‘A hang up’

Between newspaper, madness and anxiety, we see the agony of a circus artist who is trapped between his technique and the manipulation of his alter-ego. The artist, as a subject of performance, “believing” in freedom, has been chained to self-exploitation.

The subject of our story – where passion and obsession, conscious and unconscious are mixed – travels on this journey, unable to recognize and understand this constructed reality.

We will look at society from the exhaustion, fatigue and suffocation of overproduction, hyper-performance and hypercommunication, which blur the concept of the real. 

What does this tiredness consist of? Is it really possible to accept that today’s freedom is paradoxically a new form of enshacklement? From these questions arrives the project ‘A Hang Up’, a piece of critical and contemporary character.

Image: Clara Pedrol

liturgia atómica

‘liturgia atómica’ is a stage play that inquires into and brings together various personal and global concerns through circus, dance and physical theater. Focusing on Butoh and Trapeze techniques, it plays with fragmented memories of a traumatic past and their manifestations in the body.

Through a soundscape that combines whispers, music and whale sounds, the show recreates a kind of ritual from all that is hidden, and opens the door to the possibility of diverse encounters with faith and enlightenment – this in the face of the existential void that is presented by multiple contemporary crises: climate change, violence, the pandemic, etc…

Crèdit: Katarina Rothfjell

‘Mariage’

Based on the idea that all stage scripts include people, objects, and actions, Collettivo Collettivom creates a code called a “POA system”. This path of conceptual and scenic exploration leads them to a series of reflections: on the behavior of a group in relation to elected rules; on the process of appropriating a rule; on interactions between different communities that do not have the same rules; and on the search for the moment that leads us out of pre-established agreements.

The aim of the research is to observe all the reactions of adaptation, resistance and personal interpretation that occur in this process of translating theory into reality; in this context, it focuses on everything that cannot be controlled or predicted. Despite the codes and formulas: the human variable.

‘Apus’

The Apus apus (black falcon) is a bird that has adapted extremely well to a life lived completely in the air and can spend nine to ten months flying non-stop. That’s why this bird eats, copulates and even sleeps while flying, and only lands to nest.

Through movement, the techniques of hand to hand and handstand, Guillermo and Enrico investigate how they can stay airborne as long as possible without touching the ground. What relationship does the role of the top mounter have with the air? What about his base? How long can the base carry his colleague without him touching the ground? With these premises, the two artists aim to generate a language of the body between them that extends from but is more than mere technique, and to carry to the end the resistance of their two bodies.

‘Kristall Bohème’

‘Kristall Bohème’ is a research and creation project and a platform for visibility and experimentation for circus language and blown-glass crafts, a trade that is disappearing.

It is a performance with a circus artist, a musician and a lyrical singer which delves into transgenerational memory, roots and footprints. It seeks a balance between what is new and what is old, claiming that the former cannot exist without the latter.

The composition of the show is based on movement and acrobatics on the U-String, fakirism, and object manipulation.

Picture: Clara Pedrol

prince_LE_ss

A dark and disturbing tale about the end of a relationship. A sudden bereavement. Something that was there and now is not anymore. A failure. A mismatch. A failed happy ending.

What happens if the Princess finds herself ineluctably without (any) Prince?

Princess as an example, the object of a visual research on this archetype and its fairy-tale, oneiric and unreal environment reinterpreted through the black veil of mourning, obsession and desire, generic character protagonist of a story that wants to tell the attempt not to avoid what socially and emotionally is considered “suffering” that presents itself as a unique and compulsory path to reach a state of lasting well-being.

Discovering that Prince Charming, the longed-for salvation, is not to be found in someone else, in something external, but only in the acceptance of loss, in letting go of what we were convinced was necessary to our existence, in abandoning everything to rediscover ourselves naked and strong enough to live, alone, our own happy ending.

Pivture: Li Mi

CAí és el nom de la companyia de circ contemporani creada per Sabrina Catalán i Elia Pérez. Utilitzen els aeris com a llenguatge d’expressió amb el qual portar a escena materials personals, reals, vius i espontanis. La companyia crea el 2014 el seu primer espectacle; ‘No es la boca la que va a la cuchara sinó la cuchara que va a la boca’, peça de 60 minuts que es construeix a través de la recopilació d’històries reals. S’estrena el 2015 al Teatro Circo Price de Madrid i es programa en nombrosos festivals i esdeveniments en l’àmbit nacional i internacional. En el seu segon projecte, la companyia s’endinsa en un nou repte en el qual la mirada està focalitzada en el procés creatiu.

‘Masa madre’

‘Masa Madre’ és un procés d’investigació amb l’objectiu de crear un espectacle de sala que combini tècniques aèries, text i moviment d’una forma expressiva, directa i real.

“Masa” fa referència a l’existència mateixa.
“Masa” parla de la caducitat de les coses.
“Masa” dura una cocció.
Ens fa qüestionar el pas del temps.
Sobre com ens afecta la mirada dels altres amb relació a la forma que agafem.
Sobre com ens agrupem o no.

“Madre” fa referència a la maternitat, a com aquesta és viscuda des de dins i observada des de fora.
“Madre” parla d’estats canviants.
“Madre” dura una expulsió.
Ens fa qüestionar una confrontació cap a la persona i/o artista, un regulador de l’ego.
Sobre com ens afecta la vivència.
Sobre una maternitat amarga, dolça, àcida, salada, agria, saborosa…

Firma foto: CdAT

‘Happy’

‘Happy’ is a manifesto. A rupture in the conception of life; the possibility for each person to de-construct his own way of existence. The style, the aesthetic of opposites who meet and converse. It is our naked, rebellious, innocent, spiritual, lucid, and above all human being. A hymn to freedom reconnecting with cruelty. We put our limits, accidents and despair at stake; we claim our dissident, deadly and vulnerable existence as a form of circus.

By accepting who we are in the present moment, the fear of death escapes us. In each situation: new possibilities of changes, reconfiguration and metamorphosis. When all the doors are open, when all the anchors drown and nothing holds us to the ground, we can finally dance without falling.

Picture: Carolina Castro

¡Proyecto SENA!

The creation of a superhero union is the starting point of this piece, which takes place during a union event. With irony and humor, the aim of the characters will be to raise awareness about complex issues in the union sector such as job insecurity, sexism, old age and media power. To this end, theatrical tools will be used on stage as well as a mockumentary with “testimonies” from people involved.

We see heroes bravely perform extraordinary feats; but we also discover  their more human side, moving them to intimate spaces where they show us their personal conflicts, their vulnerabilities and their insecurities. This concept of an antihero serves as a metaphor for talking about aging in the artistic field, and especially in disciplines linked to movement. We will be talking about certain physical limitations, injuries and the resistance to disappearing as a result of them. This is a large-format, multidisciplinary piece that fuses architecture, vertical dance, theater and digital arts.

Picture: Frank Díaz

Twenty years later, still here!

‘Twenty years later, still here!’ is a sample of twenty years of traveling between two female artists that is shown through circus, art and friendship. Lotta Paavilainen and Stina Kopra started working together at Sorin Circus in Finland in 2001. At first they were just girls; now they are women, artists and mothers. The years they’ve spent together have been rich in both good and bad experiences, and now they themselves are the inspiration for this autobiographical piece that combines circus, theater, stand up comedy and music.

The show is aimed at those who had to fight windmills to achieve their dreams; those who have suffered prejudice due to their gender or have been questioned; and finally, also those who are tired of fighting and have given up. Additionally, this piece is dedicated to nostalgic people who lived their childhood in the eighties.

‘Peluda’

On stage, a woman with long hair tries to regain every strand and style she has shed throughout her life. ‘Hairy’ questions the reality of what we see. A story that travels from glamor to decay through hair, via the language of poetry and the absurd.

We are in a time when we are living our lives through a screen. We show only one side of our reality; we try to fit into the patterns of beauty. Always happy and bright, we pretend to have no body hair, no gray hair, no wrinkles. We hide behind our phones, behind our makeup, behind our surgeries and filters. We live in a time when reality seems compromised; when we are often disconnected from ourselves and our truths.

Firma foto: Nora Baylach

Cía Papaya està formada per Lorena Madurga, graduada en Belles Arts per la Universitat de Salamanca. La seva inquietud per a les arts escèniques, la va dur més tard a Barcelona, ciutat on estudia circ a l’escola Rogelio Rivel i dansa contemporània a l’escola ESDM. Actualment viu a Barcelona i es continua formant amb diferents ballarins. Durant els darrers anys també s’ha dedicat al dibuix i a la pintura i ha iniciat el procés de creació de la marca de roba LoreLoraLoro.

‘Manchas’

L’espectacle es divideix en tres parts vinculades a la tradició cristiana: naixement, mort i resurrecció. Aquesta estructura agafa de referència ‘El jardí de les delícies’ d’El Bosco, un quadre que al segle XV funcionava com a enciclopèdia de temors i dimonis. Aquesta obra pictòrica també és una referència per al desenvolupament del bestiari d’animals estranys que s’inclouen en la peça.

La creació de ‘Manchas’ neix del desig d’unir les arts escèniques amb les arts plàstiques. Es tracta d’un espectacle de roda cyr que conviu amb materials com el carbó i els vegetals. És una peça que s’assembla a una macedònia de fruita. De manera literal i figurada, aquesta macedònia es converteix en un suc que es prendran totes les persones que assisteixin a la mostra.

Fitxa artística

Idea original i intèrpret: Lorena Madurga
Direcció: Rafa Jagat i Lorena Madurga

‘Masha’

‘Masha’ represents a space to observe, reflect, interpret and live with the unexpected and the alien. It proposes a creative laboratory made of the human; a place to question the corporeal, social, and performative. To position oneself in sincerity. To create a parallel world with one’s own language, with intertwined actions that relate to each other in an irrational way. 

In our posthuman era, this show focuses on the evolutionary nature of humanity, its denaturalisation and dehumanization. The present trend toward the unification of thoughts, images and discourses is not sensitive to the multiplicity of individual realities. In this context, existence itself leads us to cease to exist, and this contradiction puts us in a framework of constant absurdity and failure. Reflect on the idea of existence through the lens of programmed obsolescence, and how accepting our self-destruction leads us to a state of mental stress and paranoia.

‘Soul of sound’

Imagination, as the etymology of the word indicates, is often based on image via sense of sight. The mental projections we make from memory are necessarily supported by images. But from sound we can also create new imaginary spaces. Can thinking through sound lead us to other realities? How can body and sound interact to search for them?

In this inquiry, the artist aims to find improvisational tools based on sound as a stimulus and to expand the possibilities of this interaction between sound, body, thought and emotion through technology. Around this concept, he will build guidelines that will serve as the starting point for a new creation revolving around the duality of breath and the networks of our lives.

‘Epidermis’

Where will you end up? Is there only one last cell separating you and the dizzying precipice outside? If someone is in a museum looking at a painting, is that person the witness? Or is the witness inside the painting? Can reason only set things right in times of calm – or can it also do so during a crisis? 

The height of crisis is the point where impulsivity brings us to the most absurd atrocities as forms of resolution: shooting, running, poisoning, humiliation; letting go of the leash; hitting, dying, living. But what is really more absurd: a calm world or one in crisis?

‘Epidermis’ is an attempt at personal research; to escape the void by entering the void – an attempt to stop writing so pedantically, to fuse the subject with the object, to survive this absurdity through the absurd – and attempting to accept the crisis.

‘Corcs’

THE INSECT

“nyii…nyiu!…nyiuuu…prufm… cris…nyuuuu!nyic…fius…tururitururitururi!!!”

That’s how this insect sounds. That’s how it thinks. That’s how it is. That’s how it moves. It faces something unknown, which at the same time is extremely familiar.

THE HUMAN

He watches it. The insect moves slowly towards him. He may feel as if he is trying to ignore it; or he may feel an uncontrollable rage.

THE INVISIBLE

No one sees him, but he is there. What role does he play? Maybe he gives rhythm to the world … Maybe he is the one who moves the threads …

CORCS is an encounter between worlds that coexist in parallel.

Vermut a Venus

Vermut a Venus’ is about the physical and intellectual need to socially connect and to network. It is an ode to this spirit, which inhabits both the body and the mind. It is a union, when everything seems to lead us to separation.

‘Vermut a Venus’ is the answer to the rules that have been imposed on us. It is the rewriting of the roles we have been assigned as people, women and workers. It is our most absurdly common and current reality; the ritual of the everyday that becomes sacred. “I meditate in the morning, I dance at night.”

‘Vermut a Venus’ is the discomfort of not knowing what is true and what is fictitious. Feeling confused, lost – reaching other realities that we had not imagined.

‘Trying to say what’

Specializing in rope and aerial silks, Gaia Panero is currently in the process of creating the piece ‘Trying to Say What’. The research she seeks to develop has started as a physical and technical research around the discipline of rope, transforming it into an investigation into the possible relationships between the rope, the artist’s body and the space that hosts them.

From this first research, the need has arisen to create a structure that is at the same time performance space and art installation, where circus art interacts with architecture. It will be a tensegrity structure, a name derived from the words “tension” and “integrity” and will be sustained by opposing forces.

‘La punta del meu nas’

This collective was born from the need to come together as a community to create, develop as artists and be able to investigate the discipline of hand-to-hand. With this new work, they return to their origins to reconstruct a common memory.

Six bodies in play, six worlds. Drifting towards a joint and shared reality. We take care of each other, we behave, we slip, we push each other. Hand-to-hand and singing as an opportunity to change everything and invite you to discover our peculiarities at close quarters.

Picture: Clara Pedrol

 ‘Picaderø’

Haa Collective is a group of artists and creators who share a desire to explore transdisciplinary paths that detach them from established patterns. ‘Picaderø’ combines different ambits that are essential for each other and have been interacting since the beginning of the work’s creation: visual arts, circus, movement, sound, multimedia and artificial intelligence.

The piece features a moving stage inspired by the shape and movement of a spinning top that will become a musical instrument as the sound artist and performers interact. Its rotary and circular motion suggests the passage of time. ‘Picaderø’ is an image of the constant defiance of the wild essence of the domesticated animal, the search for balance in instability. It is the acceptance of limits in order to find freedom.

‘Runa’

Ruins. Remains. History. Construction. Destruction. Memories. Syria. Roots. Death. Life. Identity. The artist presents a liberated space where the body becomes a vehicle for reflection on the active and passive hostility of human beings through an acidic comedy which leaves no room for indifference. This work of autofiction in circus format questions internal boundaries, as well as the absurdity of territorial boundaries and human strife.

Taking the rubble of conflict as its backbone, the artist wants to delve into the concepts of identity, family and geopolitical boundaries, while investigating how the body and different objects can aid in reconnecting with memories and roots. At the same time, he will investigate the conflicts in and of identity which are caused by a society that pushes us to limit ourselves based on where we are, what we think, what we want and what we feel.

Picture: Jordi Plana