ZAGREB RESIDENCY FESTIVAL NOVOG ... - Unpack the Arts

European residency programme for cultural journalists 

Z A G R E B R E S I D E N C Y 

F E S T I V A L N O V O G C I R K U S A 

8 – 1 1 N O V . 2 0 1 2 

p. 3 C A T H Y B L I S S O N In Search of the Other 

Stellato: In Praise of Time Regained / 

A la recherche de l’autre Stellato : 

eloge du temps retrouve 

p. 11 C L A U D I U G R O Z A The ‘New Circus’ 

in Search of Syncretism / ”Noul circ” 

în căutarea sincretismului 

p. 18 D U Š K A R A D O S A V L J E V I Ć Circus 

as the Time and Space for Thinking 

p. 22 E V I A N N A L E H T I P U U New Magic and 

the Spectator’s Physical Experience / 

Uusi taikuus ja katsojan fyysinen kokemus 

p. 31 L I V L A V E Y N E In Between Child’s Play, 

Visual Arts and Pure Magic / Tussen 

kinderspel, beeldende kunst en pure 

magie 

p. 37 M I Q U E L V A L L S The show offstage / 

L’espectacle fora de l’escenari 

p. 44 P A U L I N E D E L A B O U L A Y E The beginning 

of the end / Le début de la fin 

p. 51 R O L A N D V E R M E Y L E N From Le Cirque 

Invisible to today and back / Van 

Le Cirque Invisible naar nu en terug 

p. 58 S U S I E W I L D Now you see it… 

now you don’t: character and circus 

p. 61 X E N I A H E L M S Le Cirque Invisible 

Victoria Chaplin & Jean-Baptiste Thierrée – Le Cirque Invisible © nn

Presentation 

Circus arts are an art form like theatre or dance, 

but have not yet a profound level of intellectual, 

cultural and institutional recognition it deserves, 

in Europe as well as at national and local level. 

Thereby political and financial support to this 

sector is quite low and there are structural 

weaknesses. There are strong imbalances in 

comparison to other creative areas, even when 

comparing the realities between regions or 

countries. 

Despite the growing success of circus by the 

audience and programmers, circus arts are not 

covered by abundant literature, academic 

research, in-depth articles, reviews,… and artists 

themselves often experience difficulties in 

producing theoretical writing that communicates 

their practice, their creative processes and their 

productions. They rarely have the chance to 

exchange with critics and experts from the 

performing arts on theoretical or conceptual 

terms. 

Also, many art writers are clueless about 

contemporary circus. Cultural journalists don’t 

know the disciplines and techniques and overall 

they lack the contextual understanding to tackle 

a piece’s dramaturgical choices, to reference 

other productions, or to interview artists creating 

non text-based works. 

That’s why Circuscentrum and 9 important circus 

festivals all over Europe conceived Unpack the 

Arts. Unpack the Arts is a European project 

– granted by Europe Culture – that provides 

residencies for cultural journalists in the context 

of twelve major festivals programming 

contemporary circus. The goal of the project is 

to facilitate the circulation of knowledge and 

experience, to develop the critical discourses 

of its participants, and to further the role of the 

media within the circus arts and contemporary 

society. 

12 Residencies – 120 Articles 

Unpack the Arts consists of 12 residencies in 

8 countries, spread over 2 years (August 2012 

– February 2014). Each residency is set within 

the framework of a festival and follows the same 

format: over the course of 4 days, the participants 

contribute to a series of moderated thematic 

discussions, attend lectures by key circus experts, 

see 3-5 shows, and meet with and interview 

programmed artists along with a representative 

of the host festival. After the residencies, each 

participating journalist delivers one article. These 

texts are collected, translated and turned into an 

online, multilingual publication. 

This third publication collects the texts of 

10 European journalists who attended the 

residency at Festival novog cirkusa in Zagreb, 

Croatia, 8 – 11 November 2012. 

We wish to thank all participants and all 

collaborators who made this residency a success. 

K O E N A L L A R Y 

Director, Circuscentrum (project leader) 

Y O H A N N F L O C H 

Adviser 

2

In Search of the 

Other Stellato: 

In Praise of 

Time Regained 

C A T H Y B L I S S O N 

In L’Autre, a piece that carefully 

crafts a confrontation between 

a large bearded man and his ‘other’, 

a red carpet and two pieces of furniture 

with a mind of their own, Claudio Stellato 

rips the circuits of the new circus 

wide open. This genre-defying Italian 

has been searching for a long time 

to find just what his ‘other’ 

might have to say… 

Every time a festival opportunity comes along, 

Claudio Stellato dances like a maniac. He does 

it for fun, of course. But he also does it to give 

the other a chance to rejoice, to come out of 

the closet and colonise his entire body. The other 

is never far off when one meets Stellato. More 

or less hidden in the shadows, it could well be 

his darker side, the one that snickers, or the kid 

that (sometimes) sleeps within him. It’s the (a) 

social animal we tend to muzzle for the sake 

of convention or in the name of our superego. 

Or perhaps it’s one of the kind lunatics he 

observes time and again in the streets of the 

metropolis. It could have its reasons of which 

reason knows nothing… L’Autre escapes all 

definitions and that’s just how it should be. The 

first time that its Italian host saw the other arrive 

– well before it became the title of a show that’s 

both disturbing and amusing – was during a 

dance improvisation (with choreographer Karine 

Ponties) where Stellato really went berserk. 

When he took a look at the video afterwards, he 

knew he had to keep everything. He made an 

eight-minute solo out of it (240D), an identical 

copy showing the disengagement of a body as it 

pumps itself up, tumbles over itself, and becomes 

inhabited by a palpable and yet ethereal story, as 

À la recherche 

de l’autre Stellato : 

eloge du temps 

retrouve 

C A T H Y B L I S S O N 

Avec L’Autre, corps à corps millimétré 

d’un grand type barbu avec lui-même, un tapis 

rouge et deux meubles dotés d’autonomie, 

Claudio Stellato s’est ouvert, à force de 

recherches, une brèche magistrale dans les 

circuits du nouveau cirque. Depuis, l’inclassable 

italien laboure le même sillon, à la poursuite 

de ce que « son autre » peut bien avoir à dire… 

Eloge d’une démarche au long cours, 

à la faveur d’une escale à Zagreb. 

Chaque fois qu’une fête se présente, Claudio 

Stellato danse comme un forcené. Pour le plaisir, 

certes. Mais aussi pour que L’autre exulte, sorte 

du placard, colonise son corps tout entier. L’autre 

n’est jamais très loin quand on rencontre Stellato. 

Plus ou moins tapi dans l’ombre, il pourrait être 

son côté sombre, son double ricanant, le gosse 

qui (ne) sommeille (pas tout le temps) en lui, 

l’animal (a)social qu’on tend à museler par 

convention ou excès de surmoi, ou l’un de ces 

doux dingues qu’il observe à l’envi dans les rues 

des métropoles, qui aurait ses raisons que la 

raison ignore… L’autre échappe aux définitions et 

c’est tout ce qu’on lui souhaite. La première fois 

que son hôte italien l’a vu apparaître – bien avant 

qu’il ne devienne le titre d’un spectacle trouble et 

drôle à la fois -, c’était au cours d’une impro de 

danse (avec la chorégraphe Karine Pontiès). Où 

Stellato a littéralement pété un câble. Quand il a 

revu la vidéo il a su qu’il n’y avait rien a jeter. Et en 

a fait un solo de huit minutes (« 240D »), copiées 

à l’identique. Le débrayage d’un corps qui monte 

en puissance, culbute sur lui même, et se laisse 

habiter par une histoire palpable et insaisissable à 

la fois, comme si aucun spectateur n’était là pour 

le voir, sur Godspeed You! Black Emperor. 

CATHY BLISSON 3

if no spectator were there to see it, all to the 

tunes of ‘Godspeed You! Black Emperor’. 

The joys of the unconscious 

Ever since, Claudio Stellato has been working 

hard to bring out this other (side of himself). He 

exhausts himself in improvisations that can last 

up to two hours. “It’s like with automatic writing. 

I figure that it’s around the fourth A4 page that 

the good stuff comes out. In improvisation, the 

first fifteen minutes you let out everything you 

know how to do. Then, if you accept the stay on 

stage, you fall through the void and you climb 

back out. And at a certain moment, through the 

act of getting back up, you visit some unbelievable 

places. It’s those places that interest me. The 

unconscious has you do things that your brain just 

couldn’t come up with. It would freeze up. So you 

find yourself with your feet behind your head and 

you don’t even know how you got there. It’s a 

muscular freedom that you have when you start 

to take yourself far off. That’s just my opinion. 

But it’s what I like to do. I like to improvise alone, 

to write for a long time alone and to be drawing 

constantly.” 

The laws of chance 

That was how L’Autre was born, through three 

years of continual workshopping. Every time 

he managed to put some money together in 

between his dance performances, Claudio 

Stellato would find a way to schedule a work 

session with his body, his unconscious, and the 

surreal images his unconscious would come up 

with. These included a red carpet that unrolls 

itself, or a long closet in which he lays himself 

down and whose door can open or close on its 

own. He got the closet for one Euro from the 

Salvation Army. “I started working with it. I totally 

destroyed the thing and then I made another one 

that was exactly the same size.” The second piece 

of furniture with which he does battle in L’Autre is 

another story entirely. And it’s a good one, as 

Stellato tells us with a chuckle. He never misses 

a chance to tell a story about his fortunate 

encounters and does so with a near self-mocking 

delight. “I was in residency at a site that’s 

dedicated to the circus. I had my daily routine, 

with one hour of improv. But one Sunday the 

Les joies de l’inconscient 

Depuis, Claudio Stellato travaille dur pour faire 

ressurgir cet autre (côté de lui-même). Il s’éreinte 

en impros, qui peuvent durer deux heures. 

« C’est comme pour l’écriture automatique, 

j’imagine qu’à partir de la quatrième page A4, 

ça commence à devenir du bon matériel ? 

En improvisation, les premiers quarts d’heures, 

tu épuises tout ce que tu sais faire. Après, si 

t’acceptes de pas lâcher le plateau, tu chutes, 

tu passes par le vide, et tu remontes. Et à un 

moment donné, via ces remontées, tu vas dans 

des lieux incroyables. Voilà, ce sont ces lieux 

qui m’intéressent. L’inconscient te fait faire des 

choses que ton cerveau ne pourrait pas penser, 

ou qu’il bloquerait. Et tu te retrouves avec les 

pieds derrière la tête sans savoir comment tu as 

bien pu y arriver. C’est une liberté musculaire que 

tu as quand tu commences à aller loin avec toimême. 

Ce n’est que mon point de vue. Mais j’aime 

ça. J’aime improviser seul. Ecrire longtemps, seul. 

Et dessiner sans arrêt ». 

Les lois du hasard 

« L’Autre » est né comme ça, en trois ans de 

chantier acharné. Chaque fois qu’il réussissait 

à mettre quelques sous de côté, entre deux 

prestations chorégraphiques, Claudio Stellato 

se débrouillait pour caler une session de travail 

avec son corps et son inconscient. Et les images 

surréalistes que ce dernier lui dictait. Une 

carpette rouge qui se déroulerait toute seule. Ou 

un long placard dans lequel il viendrait loger son 

corps, et dont la porte s’ouvrirait et se refermerait 

sans un geste de sa part. Ce placard-là, il l’avait 

trouvé pour un euro à l’armé du salut. « J’ai 

commencé à travailler avec. Je l’ai complètement 

détruit. Et j’en ai reconstruit un autre exactement 

de la même taille. » Le deuxième meuble avec 

lequel il bataille dans « L’Autre » est aussi toute 

une histoire. Une bonne histoire, rigole Stellato, 

qui ne rate pas une occasion de faire le récit de 

ses trouvailles hasardeuses, avec une truculence 

teintée d’autodérision. « J’étais en résidence dans 

un lieu dédié au cirque. Chaque jour j’avais ma 

routine, une heure d’impro. Mais on était 

dimanche, et l’autre compagnie en résidence 

avait fermé le lieu. Portes fermées. Fallait que 

j’improvise !!! Alors j’ai improvisé dans ma 

chambre. J’ai détruit la chambre. Mais j’ai fini 

CATHY BLISSON 4

other company in residency had locked up the 

site. The doors were shut, and I just had to do 

my improv! So I improvised in my room, which I 

destroyed. But I finished my session inside of the 

tiny space in the closet. I closed it up and thought, 

‘Wow, I need a tiny closet’. I built six of them 

before I finally came up with the right size.” 

Getting his hands dirty 

As he himself admits, Claudio Stellato will never 

pass for a mysterious artist. But that’s not really 

his style. “In order to come up with one good 

scene, I have to work for a month. If I don’t do 

every little thing along the way I just can’t do it.” 

So he makes no promises; no end-of-residency 

showing, no automatic creation at the end of the 

tunnel, and definitely no opening night. He’s just 

experimenting and that’s all. He brings in people 

to watch whenever a bit of material comes up. 

He brings in ayatollahs of dramaturgy, freaks 

for movement and merciless critics – or an 

inexpensive photographer. That’s how Martin 

Firket came into the picture. First he was to take 

photos. Then he returned to see how things had 

turned out. He helped build a first installation with 

the first material and then a second one, when he 

brought in all the lamps he had in his living room. 

Then he came to lay cables or to hold up a 

projector. Soon he was a part of the process, 

which, little by little, had taken on a spectacular 

and borderless shape. It was a mixture of circus, 

dance, theatre (of bodies and of objects) and new 

magic. “Together, we eventually came up with a 

way to pull off certain magic tricks to bring this 

world that I had in my head to life.” From then on, 

Claudio Stellato and Martin Firket worked as 

a duo to produce L’Autre. Transportation, 

installation, manoeuvring, lighting; they handle 

it all, doing what needs to be done so that the 

furniture they’ve spent days pulling apart and 

putting back together will come to life on stage. 

They work to help Claudio’s ‘other’ display its 

acrobatic gems of the imagination in the form 

of tragi-comic surrealist rituals, appearances, 

disappearances and contortions pointing towards 

an objective that he alone knows. It’s all done in 

the deepest silence, with an extreme slowness 

and meticulous precision even in the midst of the 

most insane effort… or at least that’s how it 

appears. 

ma session à l’intérieur d’un tout petit espace 

dans le placard. Que j’ai refermé. Et je me suis dit, 

wow, il me faut un petit placard. J’en ai 

reconstruit six avant de trouver la bonne taille. » 

Les mains dans le cambouis 

De son propre aveu, Claudio Stellato n’arrivera 

jamais à faire semblant d’être un artiste 

mystérieux. Mais ce n’est pas franchement son 

genre, non plus. « Avant d’arriver à une bonne 

scène, faut que je travaille pendant un mois. 

Si je fais pas tous les petits pas qui y mènent, 

j’y arrive pas. » Alors, il ne promet rien. Ni sortie 

de résidence, ni création automatique au bout 

du tunnel. Surtout, pas de date de première. 

Il cherche, un point c’est tout. Et fait venir des 

regards extérieurs dès qu’un bout de matière se 

précise. Des ayatollahs de la dramaturgie. Des 

obsédés du mouvement. Des critiques sans pitié. 

Un photographe pas cher. C’est ainsi que Martin 

Firket est arrivé. Pour faire des photos. Puis pour 

jeter un œil sur la suite des événements. Puis 

pour aider à construire une première installation 

avec les premiers matériaux. Et une deuxième, 

en apportant toutes les lampes de son salon. Puis 

pour tirer quelques câbles et tenir un projecteur. 

Jusqu’à faire partie d’un processus qui tendra 

peu à peu vers une forme spectaculaire sans 

frontières, entre cirque, danse, théâtre (de corps 

et d’objets) et magie nouvelle. « Finalement, on a 

inventé ensemble un moyen de résoudre certains 

tours de magie. Afin que ce monde que j’avais 

dans la tête devienne concret ». Désormais 

Claudio Stellato et Martin Firket se déplacent 

en duo pour faire tourner « L’Autre ». Transport, 

montage, manipulation des éclairages, ils gèrent 

tout à deux. Se débrouillent pour que sur scène, 

les meubles qu’ils ont passé des jours à 

déconstruire et reconstruire prennent vie. Et pour 

que « l’autre » de Claudio déploie à leur contact 

des trésors d’imagination acrobatique, tout en 

rituels surréalistes, apparitions et disparitions 

tragi-comiques, et autres contorsions tournées 

vers un objectif connu de lui seul. Dans le silence 

le plus total, avec une extrême lenteur, et une 

précision au millimètre jusque dans l’effort le plus 

insensé… en apparence, tout au moins. 

CATHY BLISSON 5

Claudio Stellato – l’Autre © Martin Firket 

Feet on the dance floor 

On 11 November 2012, Claudio Stellato was a 

bit sore. The last time he had let his other out was 

just the day before in an old abandoned factory, 

right after performing in a cabaret at Festival 

Novog Cirkusa in Zagreb. A few hours after 

performing L’Autre, he launched his formidable 

frame onto the scattered dance floor and let it 

run wild and in good humour alongside Martin. 

“Because if there’s one thing I love, it’s 

reproducing what I do when I’m drunk at a good 

party, dancing for a good hour. The quality of the 

dance in those kinds of moments is incredible. 

And it’s all you, just a state of being, a sense of 

freedom. At one point, you let the barriers 

down…” With nearly one hundred performances 

to their name, the two acolytes of oddly similar 

stature have visited festivals of all kinds – dance, 

circus, mime, or theatre of objects. That’s to say 

that they’re well placed to know that circus 

festivals have the best parties, the ones where 

people actually dance instead of murmuring to 

each other that so-and-so has performed with 

Jan Fabre or has just presented a disastrous 

performance piece. Of course, at the point of 

L’Autre’s creation, Stellato had also grown a bit 

Les pieds sur le dance floor 

Ce 11 Novembre 2012, Claudio Stellato est un peu 

courbaturé. La dernière fois qu’il a laissé sortir son 

autre, c’était pas plus tard que la veille, dans une 

ancienne usine désaffectée, suite à une soirée 

cabaret du festival Novog Cirkusa, à Zagreb. 

Quelques heures après y avoir joué « L’Autre », 

il a lancé sa grande silhouette sur le dance floor 

parsemé et l’a laissée faire des siennes dans la 

bonne humeur, aux côtés de Martin. « Parce que 

s’il y a un truc vraiment bien, c’est d’arriver à 

reproduire ce que tu fais quand tu es bourré, dans 

une bonne fête, et que tu danses une bonne heure. 

La qualité de danse là qu’on a dans ces moments 

là est incroyable. Et c’est pas un autre que toi, c’est 

juste un état, une liberté, les barrières qu’on laisse 

tomber un moment donné… » Approchant d’une 

centaine de dates au compteur, les deux acolytes 

aux grands corps étrangement semblables ont 

traîné leurs baskets dans des festivals de toutes 

sortes, danse, cirque, mime ou théâtre d’objets. 

Autant dire qu’ils sont bien placés pour savoir que 

les festivals de cirque font les meilleures fêtes. De 

celles où les gens dansent plutôt que de murmurer 

entre eux qu’untel a joué avec Jan Fabre ou 

présenté une performance déplorable. Il faut dire 

CATHY BLISSON 6

tired of the dance world, which he had been in for 

six years. But that also happened rather by 

chance. 

The pathways of life 

At 13 years of age, Stellato thought he wanted to 

be a dentist, like his friends. Instead, he somehow 

wound up in accounting. He was also in a heavy 

metal band. That’s what brought him to the jazz 

school in Milan (guitar and voice) at the age of 16. 

“It was just so I could learn a bit of technique. But I 

wound up really liking jazz. It was great!” 

Meanwhile, he was already elsewhere. He started 

to do a bit of circus. He juggled and did balance 

work in a squat in Milan, eventually joining a street 

theatre group that travelled along the Adriatic 

coast with a great big gypsy wedding. Stilt-walker, 

juggler, fire-breather – he did a bit of everything, 

including shows in clubs and malls. In Italy he went 

through an obligatory rite of passage, something 

he would recommend to almost any artist just 

starting out. “The street is the best for improv. To 

hold the attention of people who don’t have to 

come see you, you have to be better than the ice 

cream they were about to go eat, better than 

everything else around. It’s a nice mission to have. 

We put up a show that we toured for quite a while. 

It was your classic Italian street show, with three 

circus numbers and a volunteer, a kid. You say, 

okay we’re going to do incredible, amazing things. 

And you keep cracking jokes. And you definitely 

have to act mean, that always makes them laugh. 

But you do it nicely.” At the end of his Italian period, 

at 17 years and a half, Claudio deserted in the 

middle of his military service to go to Greece and 

never return. After Berlin, South America and 

Spain, after doing a bit of everything and working a 

little in text-based theatre, he found himself back in 

training at the Carampa circus school in Madrid. 

“When I was there, everyone was getting ready for 

their Lido audition in Toulouse. I figured I would go 

as well. I wound up getting cast. So I went to live in 

Toulouse. I was on the slack wire at the time. That 

was my speciality. Then I broke my cross ligament 

falling from the wire. During my recovery, a dance 

group from Toulouse asked me to take over for a 

dancer who was leaving. From that point on, I 

found myself in the dance world and didn’t turn 

back. I left for Brussels and worked for different 

choreographers…” 

aussi qu’au moment de créer L’autre, Stellato 

se trouvait un peu fatigué de l’univers de la danse, 

dans lequel il naviguait depuis six ans. Encore 

une chose arrivée, aussi, un peu par hasard. 

Les chemins de l’existence 

A 13 ans, Stellato avait en tête de devenir dentiste, 

comme ses copains. Pour une raison qui lui 

échappe, il se retrouve en comptabilité. Mais aussi 

dans un groupe de heavy métal. Ce qui l’amène, à 

16 ans, à l’école de jazz de Milan (guitare et voix). 

« Juste pour apprendre un peu de technique. Mais 

pour finir, j’ai bien aimé le jazz, c’était bien! ». En 

attendant, il est déjà ailleurs. Il commence à faire un 

peu de cirque, jonglages, équilibres, dans un squat 

de Milan, et entre dans un groupe de théâtre de rue 

qui parade le long de la côte adriatique avec un 

gros mariage gitan. Echassier, jongleur, cracheur de 

feu, il fait un peu de tout, y compris les animations 

en discothèque et centre commercial. Passage 

obligé en Italie, qu’il serait tenté de préconiser pour 

tout artiste en devenir. « La rue c’est le top de 

l’impro. Pour garder des gens qui sont pas obligés 

de venir te voir, il faut être plus fort que la glace 

qu’ils avaient envie d’aller manger et tout ce qu’ils 

ont autour. C’est une belle mission. On a monté un 

spectacle qu’on a tourné longtemps. Un classique 

italien de rue, avec trois numéros de cirque dedans, 

et un volontaire, un enfant. Tu dis, on va faire des 

trucs incroyables, impressionnants. Et tu fais des 

blagues tout le temps. Et surtout faut être très 

méchant, ça fait toujours rigoler. Mais avec 

gentillesse, hein. » Fin de sa période italienne, 

à 17 ans ½, Claudio déserte le service militaire 

pour aller en Grèce, et ne rentre plus. Après Berlin, 

l’Amérique du Sud, l’Espagne, après avoir fait 

beaucoup de tout et travaillé un peu le théâtre 

de texte, le voilà qui s’entraîne à l’école de cirque 

Carampa, de Madrid. « Là je vois que tout le monde 

partait faire une audition au Lido, à Toulouse. Je 

dis, bon, j’y vais aussi. Et bon, ils m’ont pris. Donc 

je suis allé vivre à Toulouse, je faisais du fil mou à 

ce moment là, c’était ma spécialité. Et puis je me 

suis cassé le ligament croisé en tombant du fil, et 

pendant la reçup’, un groupe de danse de Toulouse 

me demande de reprendre le rôle d’un danseur qui 

partait. A partir de là, je me suis retrouvé dans le 

monde de la danse, et j’ai plus arrêté. Je suis parti 

à Bruxelles où j’ai travaillé pour différents 

chorégraphes… » 

CATHY BLISSON 7

The sensation breaks out 

In short, today, Claudio Stellato’s résumé includes 

the names of the Arcata (theatre) and K.Danse 

companies, as well as those of Olivier Py, Roberto 

Olivan, and Fré Werbrouck. But most important is 

Karine Ponties, with whom he has done quite a bit 

of work, with three creations including Fidèle à 

l’éclair, a twenty-minute solo taken from his initial 

improv / freak out. They presented an eightminute 

excerpt of the piece for 240D and won 

a number of European awards. Then he felt the 

need to create on the other for himself. The 

choreographer Roberto Olivan, who had officiated 

with Rosas, told Stellato how he had felt one day 

on stage performing something he had already 

performed 400 times before. He began to dance: 

“You stop moving… and you dance.” For Stellato, 

it all happened with 240D. “At one point you can 

feel the dance happening and you’re really no 

longer in a series of movements. They’re 

sensations that follow one after the other. I live 

with the sensations. In free improvisation, when I 

have that sensation crawling up behind my neck… 

I can’t quite explain it. But I’m sure that everything 

is there. Even on the video, you can see it right 

away. You become remarkable. You take on 

accents that you couldn’t possibly achieve 

consciously.” Thus, L’Autre. The title came straight 

away, from the beginning. “I knew that there was 

something strange within me that I had to get 

out. And then there’s Lacan, with the idea of the 

other and working with the ‘Grotowskians’, or the 

encounter with traditional magicians… Of course 

one reads. One observes. But I think I’ll have to 

keep that to myself; it has to come out on stage. 

And what interests me is above all this beast… 

beastly… man.” 

The body and the excuse 

Claudio Stellato had already worked on his own 

projects before working on L’Autre. The Last Days 

Project, for example, was a duet on the last days 

of a couple. There was also The Lift, a highly 

physical solo piece filmed by a friend in a lift. 

Stellato had broken his leg, so he was working in a 

chair. He discovered a corporeality that he would 

never have found otherwise. The duo then 

became a live show. They introduced a text and a 

swinging fabric sequence to go with Stellato’s 

wild gestural movements. “It’s just with L’Autre 

L’irruption de la sensation 

Bref. Aujourd’hui, dans le CV de Claudio Stellato, 

on trouve les noms des compagnies Arcata 

(théâtre) et K.Danse, comme d’Olivier Py, Roberto 

Olivan, ou Fré Werbrouk. Mais surtout de Karine 

Pontiès, avec qui il a fait un bout de chemin : trois 

créations autour de la figure de l’épouvantail, dont 

« Fidèle à l’éclair », solo de 20 mn dérivé de sa 

fameuse impro / pétage de plomb originelle. Pour 

monter « 240D », lui en a tiré 8 minutes chrono, 

qui lui ont valu quelques prix lors de concours 

européens. Et la nécessité de créer pour luimême, 

autour de l’autre. Le chorégraphe Roberto 

Olivan, qui avait officié avec Rosas, lui avait 

raconté comment il avait senti, un jour sur scène, 

alors qu’il avait déjà joué 400 fois ou assimilé, 

qu’il commençait à danser : « Tu ne bouges plus… 

Tu danses ». Pour lui c’est avec « 240D » que 

c’est arrivé. « A un moment donné, tu sens que 

ça danse. Et tu n’es plus dans un enchaînement 

de mouvements, c’est vrai. Mais dans des 

sensations qui s’enchaînent. Moi, je vis sur les 

sensations. En free improvisation, quand j’ai cette 

sensation qui remonte derrière la nuque… Je ne 

sais pas comment l’expliquer. Mais je suis sûr que 

tout est là. Rien qu’en vidéo, tu le vois très vite. 

Tu deviens impressionnant. T’as des accents que 

tu ne peux pas avoir avec ton raisonnement. » 

Alors, « L’Autre ». Le titre est venu direct, dès le 

début. « Je savais qu’à l’intérieur de moi, il y avait 

une chose bizarre qu’il était bien de faire sortir. 

Après il y avait Lacan, l’autre comme concept, le 

travail avec des “grotowskiens“, la rencontre avec 

des magiciens traditionnels… Evidemment, on lit, 

on observe des choses, mais je crois que je dois 

garder ça pour moi, ça doit sortir sur le plateau. 

Et ce qui m’intéressait, c’était surtout cette 

bête… homme… bête… » 

Le corps et l’excuse 

Avant « L’autre », Claudio Stellato avait déjà 

monté des projets pour lui. « The Last Days 

Project », par exemple, duo évoquant les derniers 

jours d’un couple. Ou « The lift », solo très 

physique, filmé par une amie, dans un ascenseur. 

Stellato s’était cassé une jambe. Alors, il avait 

travaillé assis sur une chaise. Et trouvé une 

corporalité qu’il n’aurait jamais réveillée 

autrement. Le duo en a ensuite fait un spectacle 

live, posant un texte, et une séquence de tissu 

CATHY BLISSON 8

that I’ve understood the process. I start with the 

body and then I find an excuse for what I’m doing. 

I need to tell myself a story. But once I’ve 

understood the excuse I alter the entire show so 

that it’s no longer just an excuse. I throw out 

scenes that are sometimes great, actually. It can 

be a hard sacrifice. But if it doesn’t make sense, I 

won’t keep it. You could do complete nonsense 

on stage if you let yourself. But if you want to 

work on the bizarre, you need some sense of 

coherence within the bizarreness.” 

The dog and madness 

He doesn’t use the word ‘crazy’, although if you 

use it then he’ll jump right in. Crazy people are his 

thing. That’s why he loves Paris. “It’s full of mental 

cases”, and he never tires of observing them. 

“People who talk to themselves, who are tripping 

out on something that only they can see. It’s 

true that they’re my inspiration. For us it’s 

incomprehensible. But you can see that there’s 

a reason behind it, a coherency in each step they 

take, one after the other. It’s as if there were a 

denser energetic line. In fact, there is. If you watch 

them for an hour you see that it’s perfect. If you 

put the same thing on stage it’s just incredible. 

They’re just in the wrong place. In the street it 

doesn’t work so well.” For Claudio Stellato, that’s 

the magic of the stage. You can observe what no 

one else sees, resituate it and then reconstruct its 

image. “If I see a dog on stage it ceases to be a 

dog. It’s a sur-dog, a super dog.” 

Knitting and the raven 

Or should it be a raven that we bring on stage, 

since Stellato has been observing many of them 

and drawing them in his sketchbook. It’s lucky 

enough, since he sees plenty of them, crows too, 

along the edges of highways as he travels to 

performances of L’Autre. He has an image in his 

head of a lifeless body laid out on stage that a 

crow comes to pick at. He’s seriously considering 

raising one. He knows that baby crows are born in 

May, that you have to leave them alone for five 

days and that you must be absolutely certain to 

be there when they open their eyes. “Then you’re 

mum, dad.” He wonders if this would fit in with 

the gypsy lifestyle he now leads, with 

performance dates for L’Autre booked from now 

through February 2014. Meanwhile, he’s been 

ballant sur la gestuelle débridée de Stellato. 

« C’est juste qu’avec « L’autre », j’ai compris le 

processus. Je pars du corps, et après, je trouve 

une excuse, j’ai besoin de me raconter une 

histoire. Mais une fois que je comprend l’excuse, 

alors, je remodifie tout le spectacle. Pour que ce 

ne soit plus une excuse. Je jette, même des super 

scènes. C’est des sacrifices durs parfois, mais si 

c’est pas logique, je garde rien. Parce que tu peux 

faire n’importe quoi sur un plateau. Mais si tu veux 

faire le bizarre, faut une cohérence dans la 

bizarreté. » 

Le chien et la folie 

Il ne prononcera pas le mot « folie », mais si on 

le lance sur la question, il s’y engouffre avec 

bonheur. Les fous, c’est son truc. C’est pour 

ça qu’il adore Paris, « c’est plein de malades 

mentaux », qu’il ne se lasse pas de regarder. 

« Les gens qui parlent tout seuls, qui ont un trip 

qu’eux seuls voient. C’est vrai qu’eux, c’est mon 

inspiration. Pour nous c’est incompréhensible, 

mais tu vois qu’ils raisonnent, cohérents dans 

tous les pas qu’ils font l’un après l’autre. C’est 

comme s’il y avait une ligne énergétique plus 

grosse, qui est juste. Si tu les regardes sur une 

heure, c’est parfait. Tu mets la même chose sur 

un plateau et c’est incroyable. C’est juste qu’ils 

sont déplacés en fait, dans la rue, ça marche un 

peu moins. » La magie du plateau selon Claudio 

Stellato. Observer ce que personne ne voit, le 

replacer là, reconstruire l’image. « Si je vois un 

chien sur un plateau, ce n’est plus un chien. 

C’est un extra-chien. Un super-chien. » 

Le tricot et le corbeau 

En ce moment, ce serait plutôt les corbeaux, que 

Stellato observe et dessine sur son carnet de 

croquis. Ca tombe bien, il en croise tout plein, et 

des corneilles, au bord des autoroutes qu’il 

sillonne pour tourner L’Autre. Il a en tête, cette 

image d’un corps sans vie, allongé sur scène, sur 

laquelle un corbeau viendrait picorer. Il envisage 

sérieusement d’en élever un. Il sait que les petits 

corbeaux naissent en mai, qu’il faut les laisser 

tranquilles 5 jours, mais être là, absolument, 

quand ils ouvrent les yeux. « Après, t’es maman, 

papa ». Il se demande si c’est compatible avec sa 

vie de gipsy, rapport à « L’Autre » qui aligne des 

dates jusqu’en février 2014. En attendant, il 

CATHY BLISSON 9

trying his hand at knitting to pass the time while 

on the road. He does it because of another image 

that he can’t get out of his head until he’s tried it. 

He sees himself knitting with a huge string and 

two metres-long pieces of wood as his needles. 

Or maybe it’s a giant hook. So Claudio Stellato is 

set for three more years of research based on a 

simple title, ‘Rituals’. The images of the raven and 

the over-proportioned needlework may not last. 

But each of these attempts (constructing the 

needles or the hook, finding the string, working on 

it for one or two weeks…) will perhaps serve as 

intermediary steps toward something else that 

will only have happened because of what came 

before. “So there you have it. It needs to be done.” 

Ritual and life 

‘Rituals’ will more than likely be a show, but 

perhaps not. Perhaps it will be an installation, a 

video object, a drawn exhibit, or all of the above. 

For now, it’s a worksite without a deadline, a 

“moment of life” rather than a project, like L’Autre 

once was. Its broad title leaves room for many 

possibilities, from sacred ritual to the ritualistic 

coffee. “Because titles whisk you away before the 

thing is even created.” This one happened when 

Claudio Stellato felt a ritual form creep up on him, 

with his other, which he will never cease to 

examine. Today he seeks out his own rituals and 

does so with a samurai sword, an axe and a 

wooden block. The axe and the wooden block 

have already appeared in a video and a live microperformance 

where Stellato went at the block 

with such fury that the axe is still stuck inside it. 

It’s been impossible to get it out, and the bare 

arm that tries just laughs harder and harder. Then 

there will be that old tool that Claudio Stellato 

intends to take out of the closet and put back into 

his repertoire. He’s working on it now. “It’s my 

voice. I don’t know how it sounds yet, but it will 

come.” 

s’exerce au tricot, au fil des heures de route. 

La faute à une autre image, qui ne lui sortira pas 

de la tête tant qu’il ne l’aura pas testée. Il s’y 

verrait tricoter une énorme corde avec deux 

morceaux de bois de quelques mètres de long en 

guise d’aiguilles. Ou un crochet géant. Voilà, 

Claudio Stellato est reparti pour trois ans de 

recherche, autour d’un simple titre, « Rituals ». 

Les images du corbeau et du tricot surdimensionné 

n’y survivront peut-être pas. Mais 

tous ces passages là (construire les aiguilles ou le 

crochet, trouver la corde, travailler une semaine, 

deux semaines…) serviront peut-être de « gradins 

intermédiaires » vers autre chose, qui n’arrivera 

que grâce à ça. « Donc voilà, il faut le faire ». 

Le rituel et la vie 

« Rituals » sera sans doute un spectacle, mais 

peut-être pas. Peut-être une installation, un objet 

vidéo, une expo dessinée, ou tout ça à la fois. 

Pour l’heure, c’est un chantier, sans date butoir. 

Un « moment de vie » plutôt qu’un projet, comme 

« L’Autre » l’a été. Avec un titre ouvert, pour laisser 

toutes les options à la matière, du rituel sacré au 

rituel du café. « Parce que ça fait voyager, les 

titres, avant même que la chose soit créée. » 

Celui-là est arrivé quand Claudio Stellato a senti 

venir la forme rituelle, avec son autre, qu’il ne 

cessera jamais de sonder. Aujourd’hui, en 

cherchant ses propres rituels. Avec un sabre de 

samouraï, une hache et un billot de bois. La hache 

et le billot ont déjà donné une vidéo, et une microperformance 

en live. Où Stellato attaque le billot, 

avec une ardeur telle que la hache y reste plantée, 

impossible à dégager, et pousse le bras désarmé 

à rigoler de plus en plus fort. Et puis il y aura ce 

vieil outil que Claudio Stellato entend sortir du 

placard et remettre à son répertoire, il y travaille. 

« Ma voix. Je ne la connais pas encore. Mais elle 

va arriver. » 

Plus d’informations : http://www.l-autre.be 

CATHY BLISSON 10

The ‘New Circus’ 

in Search of 

Syncretism 

C L A U D I U G R O Z A 

What would a circus festival look like? And what 

does the term ‘new circus’ mean? These were the 

questions that drove me, a novice given the low 

representation of either ‘old’ or ‘new’ circus in 

Romania, to apply for a residency with the Unpack 

the Arts programme in the summer of 2012. 

Coming into the residency my experience in the 

field was limited to old childhood memories from 

when I last saw a classical circus performance 

with clowns, trapeze artists, magicians and 

trained animals. No other horizon related to the 

circus could be found in my career as a critic and 

a journalist, apart from a few references within 

various theatrical performances. So, attending 

Festival novog cirkusa in Zagreb in the first half of 

November was a sort of initiation for me, through 

the content of the residency itself – discussions, 

conferences, presentations of the ‘new circus’ – 

and especially through the four performances 

seen, each of them – even the first one, Cirque 

Invisible, which was of a rather classical style – 

proving the syncretic attempts which the 

contemporary circus and its creators are making 

in order to reconfigure their aesthetics, in a 

postmodern manner, without betraying the 

authenticity of their art. 

I understand ‘syncretism’ in this case as a 

tendency within contemporary circus artists to 

assimilate and take over elements of theatre, 

dance, visual arts (especially multimedia), 

etcetera, placing an increased emphasis on the 

performance’s dramaturgy. Of course my 

perspective may be wrong because it is a 

generalisation, but I cannot help making a 

comparison with the recent developments in the 

drama and dance produced in Romania, which 

make me believe that the trend of syncretism is 

quasi-general. In Romania, in recent years, the 

”Noul circ” 

în căutarea 

sincretismului 

C L A U D I U G R O Z A 

Cum o fi un festival de circ? Și ce o fi însemnând 

”circ nou”? Acestea au fost întrebările care m-au 

provocat, în vara lui 2012, să aplic pentru o 

rezidență în cadrul programului european ”Unpack 

the Arts”, ca un novice în domeniu, dată fiind slaba 

reprezentare a circului – ”vechi” sau ”nou” 

deopotrivă – în România. 

Experiența mea în domeniu se limita la străvechi 

amintiri din copilărie, când am fost ultima dată la 

o reprezentație de circ clasic, cu clovni, trapeziști, 

prestidigitatori și animale dresate. Nici un alt 

orizont legat de circ nu se regăsea în cariera mea 

de critic și jurnalist, în afară de câteva ”trimiteri” 

din varii spectacole teatrale. Astfel că participarea 

la Festival Novog Cirkusa, în Zagreb, în prima 

parte a lui octombrie, a fost ca un fel de inițiere, 

prin conținutul însuși al rezidenței – discuții, 

conferințe, prezentări ale ”noului circ” –, dar mai 

ales prin cele patru spectacole văzute, fiecare din 

ele – chiar și primul, Cirque invisible, de o factură 

mai degrabă clasică – demonstrându-mi 

tentativele sincretice pe care circul contemporan 

și creatorii săi le operează pentru a-și reconfigura 

– în manieră postmodernă – estetica, fără să 

trădeze mijloacele autentice ale artei lor. 

Înțeleg prin sincretism tendința artiștilor din circul 

contemporan de a asimila și a-și apropria 

elemente din teatru, dans, arte vizuale 

(multimedia) etc., atenția mai mare acordată unei 

dramaturgii a spectacolelor. Firește, perspectiva 

mea, din rațiuni obiective parțială, poate să fie 

greșită prin generalizare, însă nu pot să nu fac o 

comparație cu tendințele recente din teatrul și 

dansul produse în România, ceea ce mă face să 

cred că trendul e cvasi-general. În România, în anii 

din urmă, a căpătat o importanță tot mai mare 

apelul la aptitudinile vocale și coregrafice ale 

actorilor de dramă, ca și, pe de altă parte, 

CLAUDIU GROZA 11

ecourse to the vocal and choreographic skills of 

dramatic actors, as well as, on the other hand, to 

the dramatic skills of dancers or even opera 

singers, has gained an increasing importance. 

Lighting design and multimedia elements play a 

more significant role in theatre productions, and 

stage music is created alongside performances. 

These are elements I have also found in the circus 

performances seen in Zagreb, which allows me, 

therefore, to make a comparison… 

A ‘deconstructive’ show 

Initially, I intended to analyse the interference 

points between new circus, theatre, dance and 

the visual arts, applied to only three of the four 

productions seen in Croatia. Along the way, 

however, I realised that the one I had intended to 

leave out, Le Cirque Invisible, also had certain 

elements of cultural synthesis, despite its 

venerable ‘age’ (it has already been performed for 

decades) and its strong connection to circus 

tradition. 

The self-irony and parodic spirit with which the 

performance is presented, and by which the 

spectators are given the impression of somehow 

being accepted into the creators’ own home, 

brings the performance closer to the formulas of 

postmodern theatre. Le Cirque Invisible is 

performed by Victoria Chaplin and Jean-Baptiste 

Thiérrée, two legendary artists, with a 

mischievous air but also great virtuosity, who 

combine traditional circus techniques and effects 

– such as rabbits pulled from various unexpected 

places – but do so in the context of a conscious 

complicity with the audience, with gags or 

moments of choreographic interaction which 

make one think of Benny Hill’s TV sketches or of 

oriental dances. The story of the fish Raoul, for 

example, performed by Thiérrée with an ingenious 

pun (playing on ‘Merlusconi’ or ‘Murene Mathieu’) 

is a sequence that is obviously theatrical, and 

Victoria Chaplin’s spectacular metamorphoses, 

where objects or clothes turn people into 

butterflies or birds, are in line with the visual arts 

through their pictorial clearness. Of course, these 

moments coexist with the traditional ones – the 

artist’s acrobatic virtuosity has been remarkable. I 

think Cirque Invisible was, at the time of its 

release, an original show in the circus art field. 

la aptitudinile dramatice ale dansatorilor sau chiar 

soliștilor de operă. Light-designul și formulele 

multimedia au o pondere mai însemnată în 

producțiile de teatru, muzica de scenă e creată în 

acord cu ”anvergura” interpreților. Sunt elemente 

pe care le-am regăsit și în spectacolele de circ 

văzute la Zagreb, care mă îndreptățesc să fac o 

comparație. 

Un spectacol ”deconstructiv” 

Inițial, mi-am propus să analizez punctele de 

interferență dintre noul circ, teatru, dans și arte 

vizuale aplicat pe trei din cele patru producții 

văzute în Croația; pe parcurs însă, mi-am dat 

seama că și prima, Cirque invisible, are, în ciuda 

venerabilei sale ”vârste” – se joacă deja de câteva 

decenii – și a profilului său tradițional, elemente 

certe de sinteză culturală. 

Autoironia și spiritul parodic, prin care convenția e 

exhibată, iar spectatorii sunt acceptați cumva în 

”bucătăria” creatorilor, apropie spectacolul de 

formulele teatrului postmodern. Cirque invisible e 

jucat de Victoria Chaplin și Jean-Baptiste 

Thiérrée, doi artiști legendari, într-o manieră 

poznașă dar de mare virtuozitate, combinând 

tehnici de circ clasice – precum iepurii scoși din 

diverse cotloane –, dar în rama unei complicități 

conștiente cu publicul, cu gaguri sau momente de 

interacțiune coregrafică ce duc cu gândul la 

scheciurile TV ale lui Benny Hill ori la dansurile 

orientale. ”Povestea peștelui Raoul”, de pildă, 

redată de Thiérrée, cu jocuri de cuvinte ingenioase 

(merluciul ”Merlusconi” sau ”Murene Mathieu”) 

este o secvență evident teatrală, iar 

metamorfozele spectaculoase al Victoriei Chaplin, 

în care obiectele sau îmbrăcămintea transformă 

oameni în fluturi ori păsări, intră în sfera artelor 

vizuale prin picturalitatea lor manifestă. Firește, 

aceste momente coexistă cu cele tradiționale – 

remarcabilă a fost virtuozitatea acrobatică a 

artistei. Cred că Cirque Invisible a fost, la 

momentul apariției sale, un spectacol inedit în 

peisajul artei circului. 

Revenind însă la focusul acestei analize, notez 

– oarecum pedagogic – că interferențe între 

artele performative există de mult timp, fie că 

elemente de circ sunt prezente în spectacole de 

teatru (la Brook sau Ariane Mnouchkine, s-a 

CLAUDIU GROZA 12

However, going back to the focus of this analysis, I 

note – somewhat pedagogically – that 

interconnections between performing arts genres 

have existed for a long time. Either circus 

elements have been present in theatre 

performances (in Brook and Ariane Mnouchkine, 

as noted during my Zagreb residence), or theatremakers 

like Josef Nadj have worked with young 

circus artists. Moreover, some circus artists 

consider themselves to be ‘interdisciplinary’, 

using the ‘happening’ as a theatre scenario or 

incorporating choreography or street music 

(hip-hop, for example) into their performances. 

The directions are very diverse and the search 

is predominant – a point, in fact, that was 

underlined in conversations with the creators of 

the other three performances seen in Zagreb. 

Between anthropology and 

technology 

The creators of the show Vibrations chose to 

present only a ten-minute excerpt of their twohour 

production at Festival novog cirkusa. Entitled 

Gravity, this short sequence was irrelevant in 

assessing the artistic ambitions of the planned full 

performance, being, as Raphael Navarro, one of 

the directors of Company 14:20, told us, rather a 

simple sketch, a first bait thrown to the spectator 

to introduce him to the spiritual ‘magic’ which the 

show will build. François Chat’s performance 

corresponded to the theoretically asserted goal 

– “a magical and dreamlike journey which 

combines dance, theatre, objects and circus” – 

but it failed to transmit to the audience the 

empathy defined by critic Anne Quentin, in 

Zagreb, as one of the constituent elements of the 

‘new magic’ promoted by 14:20. 

But beyond this ‘technical’ aspect, I noticed the 

influence of a type of relatively slow, hieratic 

dance within the performance. A fluid, undulating 

choreography which, in the dim light of the stage 

and with the use of a ‘magic stick’ seemingly 

floating in space, tried to create a certain spiritual 

energy. According to my own frame of references, 

as a theatre critic, the fragment I saw belonged to 

the theatre-dance zone, this level prevailing on the 

‘magic’ that was here just a stage performance 

adjuvant. I do not deny, however, that, seeing the 

extract, the viewer cannot enter the semantic 

punctat în rezidența zagrebiană), fie că teatratorii, 

ca Joseph Nadj, au lucrat cu tineri artiști de circ. 

Mai mult, o parte a artiștilor de circ se consideră 

”interdisciplinari” ei înșiși, folosind în spectacole 

happeningul, scenariul ca-și-teatral, coregrafia ori 

muzica străzii (hip-hop, de exemplu). Direcțiile 

sunt foarte diverse, iar căutarea e dominantă, așa 

cum, de altfel, au punctat și creatorii celorlalte trei 

spectacole văzute în Croația, în discuțiile cu noi. 

Între antropologie și tehnologie 

Creatorii spectacolului Vibrații au optat să 

prezinte la Festival Novog Cirkusa din Zagreb 

doar un fragment de zece minute din producția 

lor de două ore. Intitulată Gravitație, secvența 

a fost irelevantă pentru ambitusul artistic al 

spectacolului, fiind mai degrabă un simplu 

crochiu, o primă nadă aruncată spectatorului – 

este chiar momentul de debut al reprezentației –, 

care să-l introducă pe acesta în ”magia” spirituală 

pe care, ne-a spus unul din directorii Companiei 

14:20, Raphael Navarro, o edifică spectacolul. 

Evoluția lui François Chat a corespuns 

dezideratului enunțat teoretic: ”o călătorie 

magică și onirică în care se combină dansul, 

teatrul, obiectele și circul”, însă n-a reușit să 

transmită publicului acea empatie definită de 

criticul Anne Quentin, chiar la Zagreb, ca unul din 

elementele constitutive ale ”noii magii” 

promovate de Compania 14:20. 

Dincolo însă de acest aspect ”tehnic”, am 

remarcat influența unui tip de dans hieratic, relativ 

lent, în reprezentație. O coregrafie unduitoare, 

fluidă, care, în lumina scăzută a scenei și cu 

ajutorul ”bățului magic” care plutea aparent în 

spațiu, încerca să creeze o anumită energie 

spirituală. Conform grilei mele de analiză, ca critic 

de teatru, fragmentul văzut se încadrează în zona 

teatrului-dans, acest palier prevalând asupra 

”magiei”, care a fost aici doar un adjuvant al 

performanței scenice. Nu neg însă că, văzând 

întregul spectacol, privitorul nu poate intra în 

orizontul semantic propus de creatori, acela al 

întoarcerii la o metaforă existențială prin această 

magie a mișcării. 

Spectacolul imediat următor – căci a fost o 

reprezentație-coupé – ne-a dus într-o cu totul altă 

zonă de cercetare, marcând totodată și un hiat 

CLAUDIU GROZA 13

Victoria Chaplin & Jean-Baptiste Thierrée – Le Cirque Invisible © nn 

horizon proposed by the creators – that of the 

return to an existential metaphor through this 

magic of movement. 

The show which followed immediately after – as it 

was a double-bill performance – took us to a 

completely different research area, questioning 

the relationship between theatre / visual art and 

new circus. Nopeussokeus, by the Finnish 

illusionist Kalle Hakkarainen, is partly a theatre 

and multimedia performance, and partly a 

demonstration of circus, but there is a certain 

break, visible in the staging, between the two 

elements. 

Hakkarainen looped through the moments before 

a car accident – the different levels of confusion in 

the driver’s mind, the blurring of the senses, the 

decreased acuity, the crash. Performed entirely 

între mijloacele teatrale-vizuale și cele ale noului 

circ. Nopeussokeus, al iluzionistului finlandez Kalle 

Hakkarainen, este, parțial, un spectacol de teatru 

și multimedia, și, parțial, o demonstrație de circ, 

dar între cele două planuri există o anume 

fractură, vizibilă și spațial. 

Hakkarainen a jucat ”în buclă” clipele dinaintea 

producerii unui accident auto, confuzia planurilor 

din mintea șoferului, încețoșarea simțurilor, 

scăderea acuității, izbitura. Totul înapoia unui 

ecran translucid, dar foarte performant 

tehnologic, care permitea spectatorilor să-l vadă 

atât pe interpret, cât și ”ambianța” – rezolvată 

aici, foarte ingenios, prin cuvintele ”copac”, 

”stâncă” etc. ce se succed de o parte și alta a 

ecranului. Potențată de o muzică excelentă, 

special concepută de Samuli Kosminen pentru 

acest spectacol, cu sonuri electronice, dar difuze, 

CLAUDIU GROZA 14

ehind a translucent screen, the piece was very 

advanced in terms of technology, allowing the 

viewers to see both the performer and the 

environment – created here, very cleverly, by the 

words ‘tree’, ‘rock’, etcetera, which passed from 

one side of the screen to the other. Enhanced 

by excellent music, specially created by Samuli 

Kosminen for the show, with electronic but diffuse 

sounds, like a backdrop to emphasise the stage 

dynamics, the recurrent sequence of the accident 

was a performance of media theatre in itself. 

However, the use of a red cable as the image of 

the primordial navel, as a link between life and 

death perhaps (the illusion of a rope passing 

through the body being a traditional circus trick), 

was diluted through moments of humour. So I 

rather had the feeling that I participated in a 

hyper-technical theatre performance that only 

needed to have a new magic element because 

the performer himself was presenting in that 

context. 

In fact, in the discussions we had the next day, 

my feeling was confirmed by Hakkarainen himself: 

“I consider myself more a visual artist than a 

magician.” Nopeussokeus proved this 

professional hierarchy: the technological, 

sophisticated part has been developed with great 

care; therefore the emphasis was on visual 

performance, and the actual sequence of the 

accident relied on the artist’s acting skills – even 

choreographic skills, at some points. The circus 

elements have been given attention last, and 

Hakkarainen failed in the performance to truly 

incorporate them (as some of my more 

experienced colleagues on the residency 

considered). 

Both performances mentioned above speak of 

the search for new forms of expression in the 

contemporary circus, inspired either by traditional 

magic – as Navarro revealed – or by new 

technologies, with a slight neglect (consider the 

term with caution – it is relative) of the typical 

methods of circus art. However, I think that both 

of these areas of research will ultimately discover 

a way to syncretise their various aesthetic parts, 

with the new circus element finding its balance. 

ca un fundal care accentuează dinamica scenică, 

secvența recurentă a accidentului a fost în sine o 

reprezentație de teatru-media. Or, prin alăturare, 

folosirea unui cablu roșu în ipostaza de ombilic 

primordial, liant între viață și moarte poate 

– e vorba de un element tradițional al circului, 

frânghia care trece prin corp –, un cablu ce 

atârna la marginea scenei, suspendat, și-a diluat 

semnificația, mai ales prin rizibilul momentului. 

Astfel că senzația mea a fost mai degrabă că asist 

la un spectacol teatral hiper-tehnologizat, dar 

care, pentru că protagonistul e și magician, 

trebuie să aibă un element de acest tip. 

De altfel, senzația mea s-a verificat a doua zi, 

la discuții, prin declarația lui Hakkarainen: ”mă 

consider mai mult un artist vizual decât un 

magician”. Nopeussokeus a probat această 

ierarhie profesională: partea tehnologică, 

sofisticată, a fost elaborată cu mare atenție, 

accentul căzând așadar pe performanța vizuală, 

iar secvența propriu-zisă a accidentului a mizat pe 

calitățile actoricești – chiar de coregrafie, la un 

moment dat – ale artistului. Abia în al treilea plan 

s-a dat atenție elementelor de circ – la 

reprezentația văzută de mine Hakkarainen a ratat, 

după cum au apreciat colegii mai experimentați. 

Ambele spectacole comentate mai sus au 

semnalat căutarea unor noi formule de expresie 

în circul contemporan, inspirate fie de dansul 

magic tradițional – ca în primul caz, după cum 

a dezvăluit Navarro –, fie de ”oferta” noilor 

tehnologii, cu o ușoară neglijare (priviți cu 

rezervă termenul, e relativ) a mijloacelor tipice 

artei circului. Tatonările vor duce însă, cred, la 

o sincretizare a elementelor estetice și la 

regăsirea echilibrului noului circ. 

Excelență… sincretică 

Ultimul spectacol văzut la Festival Novog Cirkusa 

din Zagreb a confirmat atât un principiu teoretic 

al criticului Anne Quentin (”artistul de circ își 

configurează volumetric spațiul”), cât și o 

distincție făcută, dacă nu mă înșel, de criticul 

croat Nataša Govedić, între meșteșug (cu 

trimitere, punctual, la Cirque Invisible) și design 

(apropo de celelalte două montări): Celălalt 

(L’autre) al lui Claudio Stellato a fost cel mai 

aproape de dezideratul estetic al noului circ. 

CLAUDIU GROZA 15

Syncretic excellence 

The last performance seen at Festival novog 

cirkusa, L’Autre by Claudio Stellato, confirmed 

both a theoretical principle of the critic Anne 

Quentin (“the circus artist configures space in 

terms of volume”), and a distinction made, if I 

am not mistaken, by the Croatian critic Nataša 

Govedić between craft (referring, specifically, 

to Cirque Invisible) and design (with reference to 

Nopeussokeus and Gravity). L’Autre, I found, was 

closest to the aesthetic goals of the new circus, 

with the Belgian artist Claudio Stellato catalysing 

his circus technique in a performance that had 

theatricality in its scenario and ‘plot’, but also 

achieved an almost acrobatic choreography. The 

result was charming, perfect, creating both the 

desired empathy and the typical magic of the 

circus world among the audience. 

L’Autre can be interpreted as an initiatory journey 

on which the individual discovers themselves in an 

ontological sense. But it is not what Stellato 

says that matters in this show – after all, each 

spectator can build his own story – but how he 

says what he has to say. His performance – the 

word is very appropriate in this context – has a 

certain degree of abstraction without being 

hermetic. On the contrary, it spreads a lively 

energy and frees the senses in a way which 

contributes to the overall atmosphere. 

The way in which the artist has built the 

production is theatrical. Without a concrete 

scenario, the show nonetheless contains a story 

– it has an arc which can be summed up in one 

sentence. We are not dealing with a line of 

moments, but with the telescopic deployment of 

stage sequences, each derived from the previous 

one. From here arises the remarkable fluency of 

the show, despite the fact that the interpreter’s 

performance involves considerable physical effort 

– Stellato using two wardrobes, a small one and 

the other about two meters high, as stage props. 

The choreography certifies the artist’s virtuosity: 

the dynamics of his movement are precisely 

calculated, creating a graceful fluency without 

stuttering or irregularity. The entry / exit from the 

wardrobes is similar to gymnastics, with energetic 

and agile twitches hiding the physical effort, while 

the dance in the wardrobe – which is sometimes 

Artistul belgian a catalizat tehnica circului într-un 

spectacol cu developare teatrală, prin scenariu și 

evoluția ”intrigii”, dar și cu un pregnant semn 

scenic coregrafic, aproape acrobatic, de fapt. 

Rezultatul a fost cuceritor, desăvârșit, creând în 

public atât acea dorită empatie cât și magia tipică 

lumii circului.Celălalt poate fi descifrat ca un 

traseu inițiatic prin care individul se descoperă, 

în sens ontologic, dar nu numai, ci și… fizic, să 

zicem, iar apoi îl descoperă pe cel de lângă el. Însă 

nu ce spune Stellato contează în acest spectacol 

– până la urmă fiecare spectator își poate 

construi propria poveste –, ci cum spune ce are 

de zis. Performanța lui – cuvântul e foarte potrivit 

în context – are un anumit grad de abstractizare, 

fără a fi ermetică. Dimpotrivă, ea degajă o energie 

tonică și o libertate a sensurilor care contribuie la 

atmosfera ansamblului. 

Teatral este felul în care artistul și-a construit 

parcursul scenic. Fără a avea un scenariu concret, 

spectacolul conține un story, are o evoluție ce 

poate fi rezumată într-o frază. Nu avem de-a face 

cu un șir de momente, ci cu o desfășurare 

telescopică a secvențelor scenice, fiecare 

decurgând din cea precedentă. De aici se naște o 

remarcabilă cursivitate a reprezentației, în ciuda 

faptului că jocul interpretului implică un efort fizic 

notabil – Stellato folosește două dulapuri, unul 

mic și altul cam de doi metri înălțime ca ”recuzită” 

scenică. Ajungem așadar la partea de coregrafie 

care certifică virtuozitatea artistului. Dinamica 

mișcărilor e calculată precis, de grațioasă fluență, 

fără sacadări sau sincope. Intrarea/ieșirea din 

dulapuri se face ca în gimnastică, cu zvâcniri 

energice și suple, ascunzând efortul fizic, în timp 

ce ”dansul în dulap” – acesta fiind uneori un soi de 

cochilie, alteori o cutie ambientală – face să 

vibreze scena, dar nu sparge echilibrul perfect al 

reprezentației. Coregrafia lui Stellato e la granița 

dintre dans și acrobație, căci are câte ceva din 

ambele. Mi-a amintit de un spectacol de dans 

jucat într-o cabină de telefon de patru dansatori, 

însă felul în care manipulează obiectele duce 

direct spre conceptul circului, mai ales prin 

trecerea de la dans acrobatic la magie, la ”mersul 

pe aer” care a constituit, firesc, uimitor și 

admirabil, punctul de forță al spectacolului său. 

CLAUDIU GROZA 16

a kind of shell, sometimes a feature of the 

environment – makes the stage vibrate but does 

not disrupt the perfect balance of the show. 

Stellato’s choreography is on the border between 

dance and acrobatics, since it has something of 

both. It reminded me of a dance piece performed 

by four dancers in a phone booth, but the way in 

which Stellato handles the objects directly leads 

us to the concept of circus, especially through the 

transition from acrobatic dance to magic – to the 

final walk on thin air which, presented in a natural 

yet amazing manner, is the strong point of the 

performance. 

L’Autre is, I think, representative of what the new 

circus intended itself to be – at least in one of 

its guises. It’s remarkable for its coherence, 

simplicity, virtuosity and technique, but, above all, 

for creating an irresistible recipe mixed from 

ingredients taken from several cultural arenas. 

Whether this show is exceptional or the norm, 

I do not know. 

My residency in Zagreb has revealed to me an art 

of extreme vitality, whose discoveries I hope will 

one day be seen in Romania as well. From the 

new circus to dance or contemporary theatre, 

the step is small. Maybe magical. 

Celălalt a fost, cred, spectacolul reprezentativ 

pentru ce se dorește a fi ”noul circ”, cel puțin întruna 

din direcțiile sale. S-a remarcat prin coerență, 

simplitate, virtuozitate și tehnică, dar, înainte de 

toate, prin ”rețeta” sa irezistibilă, care a mixat 

foarte bine ”ingrediente” din mai multe zone 

culturale. E un accident sau o normă acest 

spectacol, asta nu știu. 

Rezidența mea la Zagreb, datorită programului 

”Unpack the Arts” și a Festival Novog Cirkusa, 

mi-a relevat o artă de extremă vitalitate, ale cărei 

căutări și rezultate vor putea fi, sper, văzute și în 

România. De la noul circ la dans ori teatrul 

contemporan pasul e mic. Poate magic. 

CLAUDIU GROZA 17

Circus as the 

Time and Space 

for Thinking 

D U Š K A R A D O S A V L J E V I Ć 

The Thinking Time 

It is a Saturday morning. Thirty-year old Finnish 

magician Kalle Hakkarainen is sitting at a part 

baroque/part mdf table covered with fruit and 

sweets at the office of the New Circus Festival in 

Zagreb, Croatia, surrounded by an international 

group of journalists. In a flash of inspiration, they 

want to know whether he is nostalgic or not? 

The night before Hakkarainen had presented 

a technologically elaborate performance about 

a tiredness-induced car crash under the title 

Nopeussokeus (Speed Blindness/Motion 

Blindness) to a relatively underwhelmed, though 

sufficiently hypnotized, audience. The hypnotic 

effect was largely the work of the music and 

sound designer Samuli Kosminen in combination 

with Hakkarainen’s own visual projections 

conjuring up the onset of sleep at the wheel of a 

moving car. In just under thirty minutes, the piece 

had set out to explore the moment of fatal impact 

from different points of view, though the moment 

at times seemed to stretch into infinity or fold 

back into itself in a dream-like way, leaving the 

artist’s intention generally unclear and the critics 

generally indifferent. 

It all begins to make a lot more sense when in this 

impromptu press conference Hakkarainen reveals 

his departure points. Largely disillusioned by 

contemporary magic, the Finnish wiz kid often 

resorts to history books for his inspiration. It was 

the claim that drama and magic cannot be 

successfully combined, made by the English 

magician David Devant about a century ago, that 

prompted Hakkarainen to attempt such a feat. 

A newspaper article about a woman in a car crash 

provided a dramaturgical framework for the 

reinvention of an old trick in which a rope can be 

seen to penetrate the body of the performer. And 

a poem about car ‘motion blindness’ by Harry 

Salmenniemi provided additional semantic 

content for Hakkarainen’s projections. 

‘I like to create a time and space for people to 

think’, Hakkarainen declares. It might have been 

some sleight of hand that made me miss what 

he said in response to the question of nostalgia, 

but it certainly prompted me to think about it too, 

in more ways than one. 

There is the dimension provided by the history 

and the form of circus itself. Only two nights 

before we had seen Le Cirque Invisible – the third 

edition of a repertoire, created (in 1990) by 

Jean-Baptiste Thierrée and Victoria Chaplin who 

had in fact been working together since 1969. 

Threaded through this show is a sense of 

homeliness and enchantment, which could easily 

cast any audience member into his or her five-year 

old self. Whether it’s Thierrée’s Christmas Daystyle 

close up magic or Chaplin’s spells which 

turn common household items into mythical 

creatures and elaborate wearable musical 

instruments – this is the kind of spectacle that 

thrives on poeticizing the mundane in a simple, 

child-like way. An inherent emphasis on eccentric 

playfulness and mesmerizing inventiveness rather 

than sheer technical prowess, despite the fact 

that its acts are decades old, results in a show 

which is timeless rather than dated and therefore 

nostalgic in its form more so than its content. 

I felt the way a five year old might feel at any point 

in time, rather than the way I felt when I was 

actually five years old watching a dancing 

elephant in a big top and waiting impatiently 

for the clowns or the trapeze lady in sequins 

to come back again. 

DUŠKA RADOSAVLJEVIĆ 18

WHS – Kalle Hakkarainen – Nopeussokeus © Petri Virtanen 

So then there is also the personal dimension. I am 

a domiciled Brit, at this moment in time on a visit 

to Croatia – a country which was once part of 

what I considered home. Incidentally, on my flight 

here I was reading a book which informed me 

that nostalgia was in fact a term invented by a 

seventeenth century Swiss doctor to designate 

a malady of extreme longing (algia) for a return 

home (nostos). Even though in the twenty-first 

century the phenomenon of nostalgia, with its 

intrinsic tendency to sentimentalize the past, 

has acquired connotations that can be seen 

as politically problematic, it is nevertheless a 

condition that must also be somehow validated. 

Not least because, traditionally, members of the 

circus – whether personally nostalgic or not – are 

very often displaced persons themselves, and so 

are, increasingly, a lot of the rest of us. Rather 

helpfully though, writer Svetlana Boym attempts 

to redefine nostalgia not as a conservative 

longing for a particular place in the past, but as a 

desire to escape the given time-space continuum 

‘sideways’ – as ‘a strategy for [the displaced 

persons’] survival, a way of making sense of the 

impossibility of homecoming’ (http://www.iascculture.org/eNews/2007_10/9.2CBoym.pdf, 

p.9). This understanding of nostalgia makes it 

possible to make sense of much more than that. 

But more of that – later. 

The Thinking Place – context 

This time and space for thinking, it is worth noting 

perhaps, was taking place on day three of the 

‘middle part’ of the Zagreb New Circus Festival 

2012. Taking the form of the classic circus act of 

a lady being sawn into three parts, the eighth 

edition of the international festival which had 

began spontaneously thanks to the endeavours 

and personal savings of the former journalist Ivan 

Kralj in 2005, was on this occasion programmed 

in three distinct sections some weeks apart. 

As in most previous years, there was an element 

of making virtue out of necessity in coming up 

with the three part programming concept, as 

Kralj wished to include a number of artists 

with availabilities very far apart. Out of this also 

emerged the theme of ‘new magic’ for this year’s 

festival, and the festival brochure is suitably 

arranged to function as a magic trick. Due to 

limited means and a lack of support, in previous 

years, the festival has taken the form of a ‘one day 

festival’, or a mock election campaign in the year 


when it coincided with general elections. As a 

result the festival has acquired a considerable 

audience following even though it also maintains 

a certain underground mystique. In the absence 

of adequate local support, Kralj has struggled to 

bring it to a close, and has programmed the last 

festival event for this year to take place on the 

much publicized doomsday of 21.12.12. 

The delegation of ten international journalists to 

which I belonged on this visit to Zagreb featured 

representatives from France, Belgium, Romania, 

Germany, Finland, Spain and the UK, and we were 

privileged to also have a programme of talks and 

discussions framing our experience of the work 

we saw. Forming part of an EU-funded initiative 

designed to increase critical understanding of the 

genre of circus, the scheme named Unpack the 

Arts, run by Yohann Floch, is a two-year 

programme of 12 residencies which will have 

taken place at 12 different circus festivals around 

Europe. The Zagreb residency is the third in the 

first series. 

Following day one of the residency which created 

a space for general introductions of the hosts and 

the guests, and day two which provided a useful 

overview of the ‘traditional’, ‘new’, ‘contemporary’ 

and several other proliferating circus trends, much 

of the day three therefore provided the time and 

space for thinking. 

Unfortunately, Hakkarainen’s piece did not do 

this for me on its own terms without the artist 

revealing his cards, and therefore it might be seen 

to have failed in one of its key intentions. But then 

again, how many people would really expect this 

kind of a proposition from a circus piece? Thus, 

what this piece drew attention to was also a 

deliberate blurring of the boundaries of the genre 

to which it purportedly belonged. Hakkarainen 

confessed that he premiered this piece in an art 

gallery but has also performed it at theatre and 

dance festivals allowing it to be framed by the 

inherent viewing conventions of those genres 

as well. 

On the night of its performance Nopeussokeus 

(Speed Blindness/Motion Blindness) was, 

interestingly, presented as the second part of 

a double bill with a seven-minute extract from a 

piece called Vibrations by the French ‘magie 

nouvelle’ company La Cie 14:20, which, in 

contrast, claimed ‘kinaesthetic empathy’ as the 

desired element of their relationship with the 

audience. Performed by a former Robert Wilson 

collaborator François Chat, and costumed by 

Jean-Paul Gaultier, the extract named Gravitation 

was a rather anti-climactic etude featuring a 

gravity-defying stick. The characteristic slowing 

down of the motion of the piece was intended to 

change the perception of time and affect the 

breathing pattern of the audience apparently 

resorting to some of the principles of traditional 

magic which seek to manipulate the observer’s 

perception. Whether or not this would have 

worked for the piece as a whole was hard to tell 

from this short extract. However, what was clear 

was that both La Cie and Hakkarainen’ areas of 

motivation were a far cry from the simple childlike 

enchantment engineered by the likes of Le Cirque 

Invisible, or the appreciation of human virtuosity 

that may have marked more traditional circus 

forms. What do they all have in common then as 

circus companies, if anything at all? 

Circus as a Thinking Space 

In the afternoon of the third day of the residency, 

French critic Anne Quentin proposed that a 

distinguishing characteristic between circus and 

other performing arts is its conception of 

performance space as a three-dimensional 

quantity. Circus artists, in her view, defy gravity 

in a different way from dancers for example. 

In circus, the horizontal plane of the stage is 

conceptually replaced by the notion of space as 

‘volume’. This is filtered through the three main 

aspects of circus: madness, balance and 

confinement. I wondered to what extent the word 

‘madness’ was a suitable translation in this 

context of the more broad-ranging French ‘folie’ 

(until I subsequently read that Jean-Baptiste 

Thierrée attributes the origins of his work to his 

collaboration with Felix Guattari in the Clinique de 

la Borde). But bearing in mind the notion of ‘folie’ 

as a broad psychological malady, it could be 

argued that these three are the challenges 

encountered by a displaced person too: the threat 

of a loss of sanity (as found by the seventeenth 

century Swiss doctors), the necessity to maintain 


a balance between cultures, and the desire 

to escape the given time-space continuum 

‘sideways’. In her book, Boym further noted that 

nostalgia was a diagnosis of the age of a ‘poetic 

science’, made at a time when the two disciplines 

were still intertwined and when the mind and the 

body were treated together. But as we enter a 

post-Cartesian age, it is no wonder that 

nowadays, having displaced itself from the big top 

into a black box, circus itself aims to be both the 

realm of the mind and the body – of mental 

activity and kinaesthetic empathy. That same 

afternoon, the Croatian critic Nataša Govedić 

emphasized the inherent ability of circus ‘to 

change the appearance of reality’. Could its 

current form of authorship be seen as ‘a strategy 

for survival, a way of making sense of the 

impossibility of homecoming’? 

It was the final performance of our residency 

that effectively brought into focus the potential 

of circus to integrate the cerebral and the 

kinaesthetic, the poetic and the philosophical, 

the ridiculous and the sublime. Performed by the 

Belgian-based Italian Claudio Stellato, this act 

with a man, two pieces of furniture and a red 

carpet, performed in complete silence, managed 

to achieve much more than some of its more 

elaborate, flashy, hi tech predecessors in this 

festival did. Taking another basic trick from the 

history book, the piece exploits the potential for 

slapstick humour contained within the 

relationship between a man and a seemingly selfwilled 

object. At the other end of the scale this 

show contains a Beckettian suggestion that our 

whole life is an obsessive rehearsal of an 

escapism act – initially from the cradle, eventually 

from the coffin. Following a fifty-minute struggle, 

the closure arrives as our hero glides – magically 

– into thin air, elevated above his earthly 

concerns. The title of the piece, L’Autre, alludes to 

the dual – conscious and unconscious – nature of 

our endeavours, but also more literally to its 

technical dependence on another human behind 

the scenes, rather than on technology per se. So 

after all, what makes circus interesting is the 

wonder of being a human being – now, that’s 

something to think about, over and over again. 


New Magic and 

the Spectator’s 

Physical 

Experience: 

Kinesthetic 

Empathy at 

Festival Novog 

Cirkusa 

E V I A N N A L E H T I P U U 

Magic and kinetic empathy 

New magic was the theme of the eighth edition 

of Zagreb’s contemporary circus festival Festival 

novog cirkusa. The theme was expressed not only 

through the performances but also through the 

realization of the magic-trick-like festival program 

booklet and public discussions and lectures on 

the topic. As this circus festival is the only one 

of its kind in Croatia, it plays an important role in 

improving the status of contemporary circus in 

the country. The festival has always concentrated 

on a specific theme – like women and circus in 

2009 – and this year it was all about new magic 

and disappearance. 

The November section of the festival, divided 

into three separate parts for practical reasons, 

included a piece by one of the best-known 

names in new magic, Raphaël Navarro. His 

group Compagnie 14:20 performed their work 

Gravitation. This solo of ten minutes is one of 

four parts that make up the larger performance 

Vibrations. According to Navarro this was actually 

the first time that Gravitation was performed 

alone – and unfortunately so, as, at least judging 

by the videos, the other parts with video 

projections looked a lot more interesting visually 

than the part that was performed at the festival. It 

seems that Gravitation would work better as it is 

originally planned: as an intro for the whole work 

instead of a standalone performance. 

Uusi taikuus 

ja katsojan 

fyysinen 

kokemus 

Kinesteettistä 

empatiaa 

taikafestivaalilla 

Zagrebissa 

E V I A N N A L E H T I P U U 

Taikuutta ja kinesteettistä empatiaa 

Tänä vuonna kahdeksatta kertaa järjestetyn 

zagrebilaisen nykysirkusfestivaali Festival novog 

cirkusan teemana oli uusi taikuus. Teema näkyi niin 

festivaalin ohjelmakirjan taikatempunomaisessa 

toteutuksessa, keskustelutilaisuuksissa kuin 

tietysti itse esityksissäkin. Kroatiassa sirkusfestivaali 

on ainoa laatuaan, joten sillä on ollut 

merkittävä rooli nykysirkuksen aseman 

vahvistajana maassa. Festivaalin linjana on aina 

ollut keskittyä johonkin teemaan, esimerkiksi 

naisiin ja sirkukseen, ja tänä vuonna oli siis 

vuorossa uusi taikuus ja katoaminen. 

Käytännön syistä kolmeen osaan jaetun 

festivaalin keskimmäisen eli marraskuisen 

osuuden festivaaliohjelmistossa nähtiin muun 

muassa uuden taikuuden tunnetuimpiin nimiin 

kuuluvan Raphaël Navarron ryhmän Compagnie 

14:20:n esitys Gravitation. Kymmenminuuttinen 

Gravitation on neljästä osasta koostuvasta 

Vibrations-nimisestä teoksesta irralleen poimittu 

yhden esiintyjän soolo. Navarron mukaan pätkä 

esitettiin nyt ensimmäistä kertaa yksinään – 

harmillista kyllä, sillä ainakin videolta esityksen 

videoheijasteita hyödyntävät osat näyttivät 

visuaalisesti paljon kiinnostavammilta kuin nyt 

nähty osuus teoksesta. Gravitation toimineekin 

paremmin koko teoksen introna kuin näin 

yksinään. 

EVIANNA LEHTIPUU 22

The subject matter of Gravitation is revealed in 

the name of the act. Magic is used to produce 

scenarios in which the laws of gravity seem to 

have been momentarily suspended as the wand 

spinned by performer François Chat rises into 

the air. There is peaceful spaciousness in the 

performance but mostly it remained bland and 

distant. 

Valentine Losseau, a 14:20 company member, 

explained that the idea behind this act was 

concept of kinesthetic empathy. For this reason 

they did not want the performer’s movement 

material to be excessively virtuoso but rather 

something that the spectators could relate to. 

Through the kinesthetic identification it becomes 

possible for the spectator to experience 

impossible things when familiar movement is 

followed by something exceptional and unfamiliar. 

Kinesthetic empathy itself is a neurologically 

proven phenomenon: watching a particular 

movement activates the same areas in the brain 

that are needed to actually perform the 

movement. The word kinesthesia was coined at 

the end of the 19 th century and refers to people’s 

bodily awareness with regards to e.g. positions 

and movement. Kinesthetic empathy is thus 

sharing another person’s bodily sensations. 

Dance critic John Martin has summed it up in the 

1930s by saying that kinesthetic empathy could 

help people experience the same sensations as 

if they were performing the movements 

themselves. 

Kinesthetic empathy has thus been a topic of 

discussion in the dance field for quite some time 

already. Sometimes, however, I wonder if dancemakers 

do overestimate the bodily experience of 

the spectator. My own hypothesis is that the 

areas of the cerebral cortex are activated in direct 

proportion to how familiar a movement is to the 

viewer. This would mean that movement series 

performed by dancers do not create equally 

powerful sensations to someone with no personal 

experience of dance as they do to a dancer 

watching a colleague. Perhaps this is the reason 

why many works that dance-makers talk about 

in terms of kinaesthetic empathy are so boring: 

the lit up movement areas in the spectator’s brain 

Gravitation käsitteli nimensä mukaisesti 

painovoimaa. Taikuuden avulla tuotettiin 

tilanteita, joissa painovoima näytti ajoittain 

katoavan François Chat’n pyörittelemän kepin 

noustessa ilmaan. Esityksessä oli rauhallista 

ilmavuutta, mutta enimmäkseen se jäi vaisuksi 

ja etäiseksi. 

14:20-ryhmän jäsen Valentine Losseau kertoi 

kohtauksen taustalla olleen ajatuksen 

kinesteettisestä empatiasta. Tästä syystä he eivät 

halunneet esiintyjän liikemateriaalin olevan liian 

virtuoottista, vaan sellaista, jonka katsoja voi 

tunnistaa. Katsojan kinesteettisen samaistumisen 

kautta hänelle tarjotaan mahdollisuus kokea 

mahdottomia asioita, kun tuttua liikettä seuraakin 

jotain tavallisesta elämästä poikkeavaa. 

Kinesteettinen empatia itsessäänhän on 

aivotutkimuksella todeksi havaittu ilmiö: liikettä 

katsovalla ihmisellä aktivoituvat samat aivoalueet, 

kuin mitkä liikkeen tuottamiseen tarvitaan. 

Sanana kinestesia on peräisin 1800-luvun 

loppupuolelta ja viittaa ihmisen keholliseen 

tietoisuuteen koskien esimerkiksi kehon asentoja 

ja liikettä. Kinesteettinen empatia on näin ollen 

toisen ihmisen kehollisten tuntemusten 

jakamista. Tanssikriitikko John Martin on 

tiivistänyt jo 1930-luvulla, että kinesteettisen 

empatian avulla voidaan voivan saavuttaa samoja 

assosiaatioita, kuin jos liikkeen suorittaisi itse. 

Tanssin puolella kinesteettisestä empatiasta on 

siis puhuttu jo pidempään. Usein kuitenkin mietin, 

yliarvioivatko tanssintekijät katsojan kehollisen 

kokemuksen. Oma hypoteesini on, että 

aivokuoren alueet aktivoituvat sitä enemmän, 

mitä tutumpi liike on katsojalle kyseessä. Näin 

ollen tanssijan suorittamat liikesarjat eivät herätä 

tanssia harrastamattomassa katsojassa 

ollenkaan niin voimakkaita tuntemuksia kuin 

tanssijassa, joka näkee kollegansa liikkuvan. Ehkä 

tässä voisi olla syy, miksi monet teokset, joiden 

tekijät puhuvat kinesteettisestä empatiasta, ovat 

niin pitkästyttäviä: katsojalle aivojen liikealueiden 

aktivoituminen ei herätä niin voimakkaita 

kokemuksia, kuin mitä tekijät kuvittelevat tai 

tahtoisivat. 

EVIANNA LEHTIPUU 23

do not awaken such strong experiences as 

the creators think or hope for. 

The restrained mundanity of Gravitation’s 

movement material is not enough to create big 

experiences in the spectator. This time small 

remains small. Not even the costumes by fashion 

designer Jean Paul Gautier were particularly 

memorable in this part of the performance. 

A much more powerful bodily experience was that 

produced by Victoria Chaplin’s high wire act in the 

Le Cirque Invisible performance . The fragility of 

the artist in her sixties hanging upside down from 

her feet on the wire certainly made the spectator 

aware of the danger of falling. I could feel this 

sensation in my feet even though I have no 

personal experience of what it is like to hang 

by the ankles from a tight wire. Chaplin’s age 

certainly added to her act – seeing a twentysomething 

performer on the same wire would 

not have felt as dangerous as it did now. 

In the same way, another piece on the festival, 

Claudio Stellato’s performance L’Autre included 

many moments that could be concretely felt in 

the body. As the performer cramed his body into a 

small box, I felt squeezed myself. As the performer 

inside a cupboard tilted at an angle, I found myself 

leaning to the same direction. As the performer 

walks forwards along a suspended plank gravity 

should pull him down but some kind of magic 

keeps him up in the air – but I knew in my legs 

what descending would have felt like. Perhaps the 

kinaesthetic empathy makes an bigger impact 

when it is not being forced, with the idea of which 

particular sensation the spectator should be 

feeling. 

Bodily and cerebral amazement 

For me personally, the festival was the first time 

when I heard circus being connected to 

kinesthetic empathy in speech. However, linking 

the concept of kinesthetic empathy to circus 

brings interesting perspectives to both 

phenomena. If everyday movement really creates 

a more powerful kinesthetic connection between 

the spectator and the performer (at least in the 

way that the same areas of the brain are 

activated), how does this relate to circus 

Myöskään Gravitationin liikemateriaalin hillitty 

arkisuus ei riittänyt luomaan suurta 

katsojakokemusta. Pieni jäi tällä kertaa pieneksi. 

Edes muotisuunnittelija Jean Paul Gautierin 

puvustus ei tässä osassa jäänyt erityisesti 

mieleen. 

Paljon voimakkaamman kehollisen kokemuksen 

synnytti Victoria Chaplinin nuorallakävelynumero 

Le cirque invisible -esityksessä. Hauraanoloisen 

kuusissakymmenissään olevan taiteilijan 

roikkuminen nuoralta jaloistaan pää alaspäin sai 

kyllä tiedostamaan putoamisen vaaran. Tämän 

tunteen tunsin jaloissani, vaikka minulla ei ole 

omakohtaista kokemusta siitä, millaista on 

roikkua kireältä vaijerilta pelkästään nilkkojen 

varassa. Chaplinin nuoranumerossa toki myös 

esiintyjän ikä loi lisäjännitettä numeroon – sama 

temppu parikymppisen esiintyjän tekemänä ei 

olisi tuntunut yhtä hurjalta. 

Samoin festivaaliohjelmistoon kuuluneen Claudio 

Stellaton esityksessä L’Autre koin monia hetkiä, 

jotka tuntuivat konkreettisesti kropassa. 

Esiintyjän ahtautuessa pieneen laatikkoon tuntui 

omakin olo ahtaalta. Esiintyjän kallistuessa kaapin 

mukana kallistin itsekin päätäni. Esiintyjän 

astellessa kaltevalla lankulla eteenpäin olisi hänen 

kaiken järjen mukaan pitänyt laskeutua alemmas, 

mutta taikuutta käyttävän esityksen ollessa 

kyseessä hän pysyykin samalla korkeudella 

ilmassa – kuitenkin tunsin jaloissani sen, miltä 

alaspäin laskeutuminen olisi tuntunut. Ehkä 

kinesteettinen empatia onkin vaikuttavampaa 

silloin, kun sitä ei yritetä synnyttää väkisin, 

kuvitellen miltä joku asia katsojasta tuntuu? 

Kehollinen ja älyllinen hämmästys 

En ole itse kuullut aiemmin kinesteettisestä 

empatiasta puhuttavan sirkuksen yhteydessä. 

Käsitteen yhdistäminen sirkusesitykseen tuo 

kuitenkin mielenkiintoisia näkökulmia molempiin 

ilmiöihin. Mikäli arkiliike tosiaan luo 

voimakkaamman kinesteettisen yhteyden 

katsojan ja esiintyjän välillä (ainakin aivojen 

aktiivisten alueiden samankaltaisuuden suhteen), 

niin miten tämä suhteutuu hämmästykseen ja 

fyysiseen taitoon pohjautuviin sirkusesityksiin? 

Sirkusesityksissähän esiintyjän taito tehdä 

EVIANNA LEHTIPUU 24

performances based on amazement and physical 

skills? As we know, it is still a central part of many 

circus performances to show a performer 

displaying skills that the spectator cannot do. 

Traditional circus is based on three important 

factors: amazement, tension created by danger 

and beauty. Although contemporary circus has 

a different aesthetic from traditional circus, and 

danger is not a necessary prerequisite for a 

performance, virtuosity is still alive and well and 

a feature of most circus acts: as researcher and 

critic Anne Quentin claimed in Zagreb, what looks 

like non-virtuosity can also actually demand 

virtuosity. As circus art is based on physical skills 

that usually demand many years of training there 

is no way that the normal spectator can have the 

same kind of bodily memory traces. Therefore 

amazement is very likely to be a more important 

sensation for the circus spectator than familiarity 

created by identification. On the other hand, the 

circus spectator is also expecting to be amazed: 

for instance, as Gravitation was seen on a festival 

focusing on magic one could feel the spectators 

waiting for something more than the rather 

mundane movement language, something 

miraculous to happen in the next moment– why 

else would the performance be included in the 

magic programme if this wasn’t going to happen? 

However, there are different kinds of amazement 

with regards to different circus genres, although 

they are all linked by the question, ‘How did they 

do that?’: while the acrobat creates amazement 

based on physical skills, the amazement created 

by magic acts is more cerebral. When average 

spectators are watching acrobatics they are 

forced to confront their own physical boundaries 

and need to deal with the fact that the performer 

can do something that they are not capable of. 

With magic it is more a question of watching 

things happen which seem to defy the laws of 

physics, and this is difficult to accept on any 

rational level. 

A magic performance seems to turn everyday 

reality on its head, and as the problem needs to 

be solved there is a demand for an explanation 

of how the illusion works. According to Claudio 

Stellato, an artist of Italian origin who works in 

sellaista, mitä katsoja ei osaa, on yhä edelleen 

keskiössä. 

Perinteinen sirkus rakentuu kolmelle tärkeälle 

seikalle: hämmästykselle, vaaran luomalle 

jännitykselle ja kauneudelle. Vaikka nykysirkus 

eroaa estetiikaltaan perinteisestä eikä vaara ole 

välttämätön edellytys nykysirkusesitykselle, on 

virtuoottisuus edelleen elävä ja tärkeä osa 

suurinta osaa sirkusesityksistä – kuten tutkija ja 

esityskriitikko Anne Quentin totesi, myös eivirtuoottisen 

näköinen saattaa itse asiassa vaatia 

virtuoottisuutta. Koska sirkustaide pohjautuu 

fyysiseen taitoon, joka vaatii useimmiten vuosien 

harjoittelun, ei tavallisella katsojalla mitenkään voi 

olla samanlaisia kehollisia muistijälkiä. 

Hämmästys nouseekin sirkuskatsojalle 

tärkeämmäksi tunteeksi kuin tunnistamisen 

kautta syntyvä tuttuuden kokemus. Toisaalta on 

niinkin, että sirkuskatsoja myös odottaa tätä 

hämmästystä: esimerkiksi taikuusaiheisen 

festivaalin ohjelmistossa olleen Gravitationin 

melko arkisen liikkeen aikana katsoja odottaa 

näkevänsä seuraavaksi jotain ihmeteltävää – 

miksi esitys muuten olisi taikaohjelmistossa, jos 

näin ei tapahtuisi? 

Hämmästyminen on kuitenkin erilaista eri 

sirkuslajien kohdalla, vaikka ”Miten se tuon teki?” 

onkin yhdistävä kysymys: siinä missä akrobatian 

luoma hämmästys kohdistuu fyysisiin taitoihin, 

on taikuuden aiheuttama hämmennys älyllistä. 

Akrobatiaa katsellessa keskivertokatsoja joutuu 

väkisinkin kohtaamaan omat keholliset rajansa ja 

toteamaan, että esiintyjä pystyy johonkin, mihin 

hän itse ei pysty. Taikuuden kohdalla taas kysymys 

on enemmän siitä, että asiat, joiden selvästi 

näemme tapahtuvan, eivät vastaa käsitystämme 

normaaleista fysiikan laeista, ja tätä taas on 

vaikea hyväksyä järjen tasolla. 

Taikaesityksen arkijärjen vastainen toiminta vaatii 

ongelman purkamista, toisin sanoen selityksen 

keksimistä sille, miten taikatemppu on 

mahdollinen. Claudio Stellato kertoikin, että kaikki 

katsojat, joiden kanssa hän on jutellut esityksestä, 

kertovat keksineensä, miten esityksen itsestään 

avautuva matto on toteutettu. Selitys on 

kuitenkin jokaisella erilainen. Tulinko muuten jo 

maininneeksi, että minulla on hyvä teoria siitä, 

EVIANNA LEHTIPUU 25

Cie 14:20 – Vibrations © Clément Debailleul 

Brussels, all the spectators that he has talked to 

about the performance said that they had come 

up with a way that the carpet that unrolls on its 

own is able to do that. Everybody has a different 

explanation, however. By the way, did I mention 

that I happen to have a very good theory myself 

about how the trick actually works? 

In other words, we long for a natural explanation 

for the trick, but at the same time we want to 

believe in the illusion – finding out how the trick is 

done does not actually give the same satisfaction 

as coming up with one’s own explanation. This 

could be noticed when some of the tricks were 

accidentally revealed to the audience during the 

festival. When the secret was revealed we 

realized that we really wouldn’t have wanted to 

know. But once the illusion is broken, it can never 

be fixed again. 

The Finnish magician Kalle Nio (formerly 

Hakkarainen) who performed with his work 

Nopeussokeus (Speed Blindness) at the festival 

pointed out that this is an everyday problem for 

magicians themselves: it is difficult to believe that 

the trick will work when you know the secret so 

miten tuo temppu itse asiassa on toteutettu? 

Kaipaamme toisin sanoen luonnollista selitystä 

tempulle, vaikka samaan aikaan haluammekin 

uskoa illuusioon – tempun paljastuminen ei 

oikeastaan aiheuta samaa tyydytystä kuin oman 

selityksen keksiminen. Tämän havaitsimme niiden 

festivaaliesitysten kohdalla, joissa vahingossa osa 

tempusta paljastui yleisölle. Salaisuuden 

paljastuttua totesimme, että emme sittenkään 

olisi halunneet tietää. Illuusion rikkouduttua sitä 

ei uitenkaan saa enää takaisin. 

Nopeussokeus-esityksellään festivaalilla 

esiintynyt suomalaistaikuri Kalle Hakkarainen 

totesi tämän ongelman olevan taikurille itselleen 

arkipäivää: on vaikea uskoa siihen, että temppu 

toimii, kun sen salaisuus on itselle niin selvä. 

Harjoittelussa voi kuitenkin käyttää peiliä apuna ja 

ystäviä koekatsojina esityksen ollessa tarpeeksi 

pitkällä harjoittelun suhteen. Raphaël Navarro 

vertasikin taikureita treenaamisessaan 

tanssijoihin, sillä molemmat harjoittelevat peilin 

edessä, vaikkakin eri syistä. Claudio Stellato kertoi 

hyödyntävänsä eri näkökulmasta esitystä 

seuraavien koekatsojien lisäksi videointia apuna: 

jos esitys näyttää hyvältä videolla, se toimii myös 

EVIANNA LEHTIPUU 26

well yourself. In rehearsals, however, a mirror can 

be used to help and friends can serve as trial-run 

spectators once the illusion has been rehearsed 

well-enough. Raphaël Navarro compared 

magicians to dancers with regards to their 

training as both practice in front of a mirror, 

although for different reasons. Claudio Stellato 

told that he uses his friends that pay attention to 

different things as trial-run spectators and that 

he also uses video: if the performance looks good 

on video it will also work well live because the 

performance is anyway always flattened when 

it is captured on video. 

New magic approaching total 

expression 

Danger is a visible element of many circus 

disciplines, for example trapeze, pair acrobatics, 

and tight wire. In the field of magicians however, 

most of the tricks would seem completely free of 

risk (especially in close-up magic including card 

and coin tricks); escape acts on the other hand 

can potentially be extremely dangerous. 

In new magic, as in contemporary circus generally, 

danger has less of an emphasis compared to 

traditional forms of the art. As for the aesthetics 

of the performance, it is no longer reduced merely 

to the pursuing of beauty: some contemporary 

circus artists might for example prefer a 

consistent but crude style. Hence astonishment 

remains the strongest of the “classical circus 

sensations” evoked by magic. But there has been 

a tendency to restrain even this traditional 

emotional response in festival performances of 

new magic, analogous to the way new circus tries 

to approach a more holistic mode of expression, 

diminishing the importance of risk and suspense. 

Both Raphaël Navarro and Claudio Stellato 

mentioned this aspiration in their interviews. 

According to Stellato even if the situations in a 

performance were exceptional to the spectator, 

they do not surprise the characters of the 

performance, because in their universe such 

occurrences are commonplace. Navarro explained 

that the effect the authors strive for comes to 

being precisely due to the way common objects 

are combined with elements alien to everyday 

realism. The boarders of the performance’s 

realism and the logic of its world can deviate 

livenä, sillä esitys latistuu joka tapauksessa paljon 

videolle kuvattaessa. 

Uusi taikuus matkalla kohti 

kokonaisilmaisua 

Monissa sirkuslajeissa, esimerkiksi trapetsin, 

pariakrobatian ja nuorallakävelyn kohdalla, vaara 

on näkyvästi läsnä. Taikuuden osalta suurin osa 

tempuista lienee täysin vaarattomia (etenkin 

lähitaikuudessa, kuten kortti- ja 

kolikkotempuissa); toisaalta esimerkiksi 

kahlekuningasnumerot saattavat olla hyvinkin 

vaarallisia. 

Uudessa taikuudessa, kuten nykysirkuksessa 

ylipäätään, vaara ei painotu samalla tavalla kuin 

perinteisessä sirkuksessa. Esityksen estetiikassa 

taas kauneus ei ole enää määrittävä arvo, vaan 

esimerkiksi yhtenäinen rujous voi olla enemmän 

nykysirkustekijöiden mieleen. Näin ollen 

hämmästyksen osuus jää ”klassisista 

sirkustunteista” vahvimmaksi. Toisaalta 

festivaaleilla nähdyissä uuden taikuuden 

esityksissä myös hämmästystä on pyritty 

hillitsemään, samalla tavoin kuin 

nykysirkusesityksissä on pyritty pois vaaran ja 

jännityksen korostamisesta kohti 

kokonaisilmaisua. Niin Raphaël Navarro kuin 

Claudio Stellato mainitsivat myös 

haastatteluissaan tästä pyrkimyksestä. Stellato 

totesi, että vaikka esityksessä tapahtuu katsojalle 

poikkeuksellisia asioita, ei esityksen hahmo 

kuitenkaan ole niistä moksiskaan, sillä hänen 

universumissaan nuo asiat ovat tavallisia. Navarro 

puolestaan kertoi, että tekijöiden haluama 

vaikutelma syntyy nimenomaan tavanomaisen 

materiaalin, liikkeiden ja esineiden yhdistämisestä 

arkirealismista poikkeaviin elementteihin. 

Esityksen realismin rajat ja sen maailman logiikka 

voivat poiketa tavanomaisesta, ja taiteilijan on 

määriteltävä, mikä on tässä maailmassa 

normaalia. 

Kalle Hakkarainen puolestaan kertoi omassa 

esityksessään olleen alun perin enemmänkin 

taikuutta, mutta ison osan siitä jääneen pois, kun 

se ei sopinut esityksen kokonaisuuteen. Toisaalta 

hän mainitsi taikuuden olevan esityksessä 

nimenomaan luomassa hämmästystä. Myös 

Brysselissä työskentelevä, italialaislähtöinen 

EVIANNA LEHTIPUU 27

from the familiar, and it is for the artist to define 

the inner realism of the performance. 

According to Kalle Nio, his performance originally 

had quite a lot of magic, but most of it was left 

out because it did not fit the whole. On the other 

hand he did mention that the role of magic in the 

performance was specifically to arouse 

astonishment. Also Claudio Stellato noted that 

with magic, the performance could include 

surrealistic elements like flying tables and other 

imaginable things which ordinarily would not 

exist. 

Based on the festival performances, new magic 

differs from previously seen magic performances 

due to its aesthetic, which resembles that of 

modern circus and modern dance. The techniques 

used have an effect on the visual aspects of the 

performance: in order to conceal secrets, the 

stage often has to be rather dark, with dim, 

precisely directed lights. Technology can also be 

used in the performances, which according to 

Kalle Nio is not a new phenomenon among 

magicians: for example several of the world’s 

first film-makers were magicians. 

Contemporary magic, a new physical 

experience 

If a spectator at a magic show is left thinking 

about the magic tricks mainly on an intellectual 

level, is the spectator’s experience essentially 

different from watching more physical circus 

disciplines? Watching aerial acrobatic tricks on 

the flying trapeze certainly feels different in one’s 

body than a neat card trick. When it comes to the 

illusion of flying, however, the sensation can be 

completely different. According to Anne Quentin, 

who gave a lecture at a festival seminar, new 

magic still plays with a person’s ancient wish to 

disappear and swap places. Quentin also 

describes magic as a way to escape rationality. 

So the magic show spectator does not have to be 

tied to everyday rationality, however hard it may 

try to make itself present. 

Drawing any far-reaching conclusions about new 

magic and its comprehensive visual world is not 

possible on the basis of a few performances only. 

But it is also notable that the new magic genre is 

Claudio Stellato totesi taikuuden mahdollistavan 

sen, että esityksessä on mukana surrealistisia 

elementtejä, kuten vaikkapa lentäviä pöytiä ja 

muita asioita, jotka voi kuvitella mutta joita ei 

arkielämässä tapahdu. 

Nähtyjen esitysten perusteella uusi taikuus 

poikkeaa aiemmin nähdyistä taikaesityksistä 

estetiikaltaan, joka muistuttaa nykysirkusta ja 

nykytanssia. Esityksissä käytettävä tekniikka 

vaikuttaa myös esityksen visuaalisuuteen: 

salaisuuksien säilyttämiseksi näyttämön on usein 

oltava melko pimeä ja himmeiden valojen tarkasti 

kohdistettuja. Myös teknologiaa voidaan 

hyödyntää esityksissä. Kalle Hakkarainen tarkensi, 

että tekniikan käyttö sinänsä ei ole mikään uusi 

ilmiö taikureiden parissa, vaan esimerkiksi 

ensimmäisten elokuvien tekijöissä oli useita 

taikureita. 

Uusi taikuus, uusi fyysinen kokemus? 

Jos taikaesityksen katsoja jää pohtimaan ennen 

kaikkea taikatemppua älyllisellä tasolla, onko 

katsojakokemus olennaisesti erilainen kuin 

fyysisemmissä sirkuslajeissa? Ainakin lentävällä 

trapetsilla tehdyn hurjan ilma-akrobatiatempun 

katsominen tuntuu jaloissa eri tavalla kuin 

sisäsiisti korttitemppu. Lentoilluusion kohdalla 

tilanne voi olla täysin toinen. Anne Quentinin 

mukaan uusi taikuus pelaakin edelleen ihmisen 

ikiaikaisilla toiveilla kadota ja vaihtaa paikkaa, 

kuten kuulimme festivaalin uutta taikuutta 

käsitelleessä seminaaripäivässä. Quentin kuvaa 

taikuuden olevan myös yksi tapa irrottautua 

rationaalisuudesta. Siten taikaesityksen katsojan 

ei ole pakko olla sidoksissa arkijärkeen, vaikka se 

kovasti esiin puskisikin. 

Muutaman esityksen perusteella uudesta 

taikuudesta kokonaisvaltaisine visuaalisine 

maailmoineen ei vielä voi tehdä kovin pitkälle 

meneviä johtopäätöksiä. Toisaalta uuden 

taikuuden suuntaus on vielä niin pieni, että kovin 

paljon enempää ryhmiä ei ole tarjollakaan, kuten 

sekä Navarro että Hakkarainen totesivat. 

Molemmilla tosin oli toiveena, että suuntaus 

vahvistuisi. 

”En tiedä, voiko uutta taikuutta kutsua liikkeeksi. 

Mutta olisi hienoa, jos se olisi nousussa, sillä 

EVIANNA LEHTIPUU 28

still so small that there are not very many other 

groups on offer either, as both Navarro and Nio 

pointed out. Both were hopeful, though, that the 

genre would gather momentum. 

“I don’t know if new magic can be called a 

movement, but it would be great if it was getting 

bigger because magic has been so boring for so 

long. Not all the ’new magic’ performances are 

actually that new. On the other hand the novelty 

factor is not very important to me; I’m more 

concerned that it is a good performance,” says 

Nio, who also works as a visual artist and videomaker. 

On the basis of the performances at Festival 

novog cirkusa, new magic’s relationship with 

movement deviates from more traditional magic 

– Gravitation, Nopeussokeus and L’Autre are all 

influenced by contemporary dance. In fact, 

dancers have been involved with each of the 

works: in parts of Vibrations, which will follow on 

from Gravitation, there is a dancer; choreographer 

Jyrki Karttunen helped in the creation of 

Nopeussokeus; and Claudio Stellato has a dance 

background himself. In all the works, movement 

has a role not only as a part of the tricks but also 

in itself, and it is not necessarily used solely to 

move from one phase of the trick to another. In 

this respect many other circus genres may have 

been ahead of magic for a longer time already. 

Le Cirque Invisible, which was loaned to the 

festival from Maribor’s programme as the 

European Capital of Culture, contains a lot of 

movement material and transformations. 

Movement sculptures, which create the illusion of 

e.g. a flower or a butterfly with the use of moving 

fabrics, were borrowed from the dance field 

where they have been used by the American 

modern dance pioneer Loïe Fuller. The many 

magic acts in the performance were in a 

traditional style – in some of them Jean-Baptiste 

Thierrée even has rabbits and birds. On the other 

hand Victoria Chaplin’s movement and use of 

props creates several transformations which 

can be regarded as a kind of new circus: 

although in this case the spectator sees how 

the transformation happens, the illusory effect 

and wonder remain intact. 

taikuus on ollut niin tylsää niin pitkään. Kaikki 

’uuden taikuuden’ esitykset eivät tosin ole 

erityisen uusia. Toisaalta minulle uutuusarvo ei ole 

niin tärkeä, vaan se, että esitys on hyvä”, myös 

kuva- ja videotaiteilijana toimiva Kalla Hakkarainen 

valaisee omaa näkökulmaansa asiaan. 

Festival novog cirkusassa nähtyjen esitysten 

perusteella uuden taikuuden suhde liikkeeseen 

ainakin poikkeaa perinteisemmästä taikuudesta, 

sillä niin Gravitationissa, Nopeussokeudessa kuin 

L’Autressa on nähtävissä nykytanssista saatuja 

vaikutteita. Itse asiassa jokaisen teoksen 

tekijöissä on myös ollut tanssijoita mukana: 

Gravitationia seuraavissa Vibrations-teoksen 

osissa mukana on tanssija, Nopeussokeudessa 

koreografi Jyrki Karttunen toimi ulkopuolisena 

silmänä ja Claudio Stellatolla puolestaan on 

itsellään tanssitaustaa. Kaikissa teoksissa 

liikkeellä onkin nähtävissä myös tempun 

ulkopuolinen itseisarvo, eikä se ole vain 

välttämätön siirtymä tempun osasta toiseen. 

Tässä suhteessa monet muut sirkuslajit ovat tosin 

saattaneet olla taikuutta edellä jo pidemmän 

aikaa. 

Myös festivaaliohjelmistoon Mariborin 

kulttuuripääkaupunkivuoden ohjelmasta lainattu 

Le cirque invisible sisältää paljon liikkeellisiä 

kehitelmiä ja muodonmuutoksia. Suora lainaus 

tanssin puolelta ovat amerikkalaisen modernin 

tanssin pioneeri Loïe Fullerin tyyliin kankaiden 

liikkeellä toteutetut liikeveistokset, jotka 

synnyttävät vaikutelman esimerkiksi kukasta tai 

perhosesta. Esityksen monet taikatemput 

itsessään ovat perinteiseen tyyliin tehtyjä – 

osassa niistä Jean-Baptiste Thierréellä on jopa 

kaneja ja lintuja mukana. Sen sijaan Victoria 

Chaplinin liikkeiden ja rekvisiitan avulla luomia 

lukuisia muodonmuutoksia voisi pitää 

eräänlaisena uutena taikuutena: vaikka tässä 

tapauksessa katsoja näkeekin, miten 

muodonmuutos tapahtuu, jää mukaan silti 

illuusionomainen vaikutelma ja ihmetys. 

Sikäli kun uuden taikuuden esityksissä esiintyjien 

kehonkieli on arkimaailmasta peräisin, toki 

näyttämölle muokattuna stilisoituna versiona, on 

kinesteettisellä empatiallakin toisenlainen 

resonointipohja kuin temppupainotteisissa taika- 

tai sirkusesityksissä. Zagrebissa parhaiten tässä 

EVIANNA LEHTIPUU 29

Inasmuch as the body language of contemporary 

circus performers is based on the everyday world, 

even if it is stylised on the stage, kinesthetic 

empathy resonates more with the spectator than 

in magic or circus acts that emphasize the trick 

itself. The best example of this in Zagreb seemed 

to be Stellato’s L’Autre, whose movement 

concept was most powerfully conveyed from the 

stage to the audience. I experienced the 

performer’s physical balancing, being present and 

curiosity bodily in such a way that my experience 

as a spectator was enhanced by kinesthetic 

empathy. 

The big question remains, however: to what 

extent can kinesthetic empathy be consciously 

used to create an experience in the spectator? Is 

the desired effect realized by planning and 

directing the spectator’s kinaesthetic experience? 

Or is that experience so personal that even 

though muscle memory recognises the moves 

being performed, the associations that they 

produce have different qualities? To what extent 

do we have shared kinaesthetic memories? Is it 

possible for the performer’s movements to direct 

the spectator’s experience to the same degree as 

e.g. the music, which is known to have a strong 

effect on the listener’s emotions? 

Kinesthetic empathy is a real phenomenon, but 

when it comes to the expectations of the 

spectator it should not be overestimated as it 

is not something the spectators think of. 

The spectator places more importance on 

experiencing something, whether it may be 

wondering how amazing the performance was, 

admiring the virtuosity of the performer, getting 

new ideas inspired by the whole work or getting a 

comprehensive experience. How this experience 

is conveyed to them is seldom the spectator’s 

greatest concern. Research into the subject could 

be interesting for makers, however. As magicians 

try to manipulate the spectator and their minds, 

taking a deeper look into kinesthetic empathy 

could be particularly interesting for them, 

especially if it can help to affect the quality of the 

bodily experience of their audience. 

tuntui onnistuneen Stellato L’Autrellaan, jonka 

liikkeellinen ajatus välittyi selkeimmin näyttämöltä 

katsomoon asti. Itse koin esityksen hahmon 

fyysisen tasapainottelun, oleilun ja uteliaisuuden 

välittyvän myös kehollisesti, niin että 

katsomiskokemus vahvistui kinesteettisen 

empatian kautta. 

Suureksi kysymykseksi jää kuitenkin se, missä 

määrin kinesteettistä empatiaa voi tietoisesti 

hyödyntää katsojakokemuksen synnyttämisessä. 

Toteutuuko haluttu vaikutus suunnittelemalla ja 

ohjaamalla katsojan kinesteettistä kokemusta, vai 

onko tuo kokemus niin henkilökohtainen, että 

vaikka lihasmuisti tunnistaisikin tehdyt liikkeet, 

niistä syntyvät assosiaatiot ovat kuitenkin 

erilaisia? Missä määrin jaamme kinesteettisiä 

muistoja? Onko esiintyjän liikkeillä mahdollista 

ohjata katsojan kokemusta samassa määrin, kuin 

vaikka esityksen musiikkivalinnoilla, jotka 

tunnetusti vaikuttavat vastaanottajan 

tunnekokemukseen vahvasti? 

Kinesteettinen empatia on ilmiönä tosi, mutta 

katsojan odotuksissa sillä ei liene kovin suurta 

painoarvoa. Katsojalle tärkeämpää on kokea 

jotain, oli se sitten hämmästystä, esiintyjän 

virtuositeetin ihailua, ajatuksia herättävän 

kokonaisuuden katsomista tai kokonaisvaltaisen 

taide-elämyksen kokemista. Miten tämä kokemus 

hänelle välitetään, ei liene useimman katsojan 

suurin murhe. Tekijöille asian tutkiminen voi 

kuitenkin olla kiinnostavaa. Erityisesti katsojaa ja 

hänen mieltään manipuloiville taikureille 

kinesteettisen empatian tutkiminen voisi olla 

kiinnostavaa, mikäli sen avulla voidaan vaikuttaa 

myös katsojalle syntyvään kehollisen kokemuksen 

laatuun. 

EVIANNA LEHTIPUU 30

In Between Child’s 

Play, Visual Arts 

and Pure Magic 

L I V L A V E Y N E 

A man and his closet: Claudio Stellato 

and L’autre (The Other) 

The man is alone. He struggles his way out of a 

closet, climbs into an even smaller one. But the 

items of furniture, and even the carpet, seem to 

live their own lives. Who, here, is the other? 

L’autre, by Claudio Stellato, is a confounding 

mixture of circus, dance, (object) theatre and 

visual art with a touch of illusion. Think out of 

the box, figuratively as well as literally! 

Claudio Stellato, an Italian performer living in 

Ghent and Brussels, worked as a professional 

dancer with the choreographer and director 

Karine Ponties, among other artists, before 

embarking on the creation of his piece L’autre. 

But when he began to make his own work he 

decided to change course. “The difficulty I have 

with contemporary dance is: it’s so serious! I want 

to blend the best of circus, acrobatics, tragicomic 

clowning and magic with the artistry of dance.” 

L’autre is programmed as a circus, a theatre, and 

as a dance performance. It cannot be sorted into 

one category, but belongs to them all. 

For three years (though the project was conceived 

even before that), Stellato has been developing 

this performance. Over this time he has 

experimented, polished, reconsidered, refined. He 

hasn’t needed all this time to plot a story, but has 

been engaged instead in acquiring skills, and 

particularly in finding ways for the human body to 

act in claustrophobic space. Stellato is intrigued 

by it: he performed in lavatories, elevators, 

cubicles – many different limited, narrow spaces 

– before arriving at the ultimate confinement: a 

closet. The idea grew from one specific situation. 

While he was resident at Dommelhof (Neerpelt) in 

2009, the doors to his studio were unexpectedly 

closed over the weekend, so he improvised at 

Tussen kinderspel, 

beeldende kunst 

en pure magie 

L I V L A V E Y N E 

Een man en zijn kast: Claudio Stellato 

en ‘l’autre’ 

Hij is alleen. Worstelt zich uit een kast. Klimt in 

een nog kleinere kast. Maar de meubels, ja zelfs 

het tapijt, lijken ook een eigen leven te leiden. Wie 

is de ander? ‘L’autre’ van Claudio Stellato is een 

bevreemdende mix van circus, dans, (objecten) 

theater, beeldende kunst en een vleugje 

illusionisme. Denk out of the box, figuurlijk 

maar ook letterlijk! 

Claudio Stellato, Italiaan maar woonachtig in Gent 

en Brussel, was voor hij met dit project begon als 

professioneel performer danser aan de slag bij 

o.a. Karine Ponties . Maar hij besloot een andere 

richting uit te gaan. “Het probleem dat ik heb met 

hedendaagse dans is: het is allemaal zo serieus! 

Ik wil het beste van circus, de acrobatie, de tragikomische 

clown, de goochelaar vermengen met 

de artisticiteit van dans.” ‘l’autre’ wordt zowel 

geprogrammeerd als circus-, theater- als 

dansvoorstelling. Het hoort in geen enkel kastje 

thuis en tegelijk overal. 

Ruim drie jaar lang (de aanzet gebeurde zelfs al 

veel eerder) werkte Stellato aan deze voorstelling. 

Hij probeerde, schaafde, herdacht, verfijnde. 

Stellato wil geen verhaal vertellen, geen dingen 

zeggen, het gaat hem om het ontwikkelen van 

technieken: de claustrofobische ruimte en hoe 

daarin te ageren als menselijk lichaam. Het 

intrigeert hem: hij deed verschillende performances 

in toiletten, liften, kleedkamers… allerlei begrensde 

nauwe ruimtes alvorens bij de ultieme begrenzing, 

een kast, uit te komen. De omstandigheden 

noopten hem tot dit idee. Toen tijdens een 

residentie in productiecentrum Dommelhof in 

Neerpelt de deuren van zijn repetitieruimte tijdens 

een weekend onverwacht op slot bleken, begon hij 

te improviseren door in het kleine nachttafeltje bij 

LIV LAVEYNE 31

home instead and ended up climbing into his 

small bedside table. This inspired him to develop 

L’autre. 

Creating the piece, Stellato videoed his try-outs 

and then watched them back after. “Things always 

look worse on video, so if the recording was all 

right I knew the live performance would be really 

good!” He gathered a ‘council’ of about thirty 

critics, dramaturgs, directors, choreographers 

and programmers to help evaluate his work, and 

this resulted in a performance that harmonises 

skills and technique, movement and images, 

dance, theatre, circus, magic and visual arts in an 

intriguing way. Stellato’s is a very intense, lengthy 

and meticulous process – a working method we 

would recommend to many other artists. Still, 

Stellato is aware of the limits of this process: 

“I don’t think I can make more than four 

performances like this in my life.” 

Child’s play 

In L’autre, a red carpet unfolds itself. A closet 

shudders. This is not your ordinary living room 

decoration. A man, Claudio, tussles with the 

closet, lifting it onto his back and balancing it 

on his neck. He defies the laws of gravity. The 

physical body folds itself against the lifeless 

object. They fight each other, dissolve, unite and 

part again. He is like a curious child thoroughly 

investigating, toppling and turning every object. 

Stellato is the playful child, the ‘homo ludens’ as 

described by cultural sociologist and historian 

Johan Huizinga, who asserted that play is an 

essential condition for creating culture. Or as the 

digital artist and game designer Stephen Linhart 

would have it: ‘People say one has to choose 

between playing or living a real life. I believe it is 

very dangerous to claim that there is a division 

between the two.” Stellato fully shares this view, 

and intends to present L’autre as a performance 

for children in the future. 

Childlike, naïve, but never lacking commitment, 

Stellato imposes rules on himself in L’autre. He 

plays hide-and-seek in the closet. He takes a trip 

around the world without touching the ground. He 

is a child that is absorbed in its own fantasy, one 

that attributes animate qualities to objects – a 

doll made into a baby, a teddy bear seen as a 

zijn bed te kruipen. Eenmaal dat idee zuiver 

ontwikkelde hij sinds 2009 ‘l’autre’. 

Stellato registreerde al zijn try-outs en bekeek de 

beelden (“op video ziet iets er altijd minder uit dan 

live, dus als het daar al goed zat, wist ik: dit is echt 

goed!”). Hij verzamelde rond zich een ‘raad van 

wijzen’, een dertigtal personen, elk met hun eigen 

specificiteit (critici, dramaturgen, regisseurs, 

choreografen, programmatoren) om naar zijn 

toonmomenten te komen zien. Het resulteert in 

een voorstelling waarin ambacht en techniek, 

beweging en beeld, dans, theater, circus, magie en 

beeldende kunst op intrigerende wijze versmelten. 

Zo’n intens, langdurig en secuur werkproces: het is 

een manier van werken die we menig artiest 

zouden aanraden. Al is Stellato zich bewust van de 

limieten van zo’n werkproces: “Ik denk niet dat ik in 

mijn leven veel meer dan vier voorstellingen ga 

maken.” 

Kinderspel 

In ‘l’autre’ ontrolt een rood tapijt zichzelf. Een kast 

siddert. Dit is geen gewoon huiskamerinterieur dat 

we te zien krijgen op scène. Een man, Claudio, 

worstelt met de kast op zijn rug, laat die 

balanceren op zijn nek. Hij tart de wetten van de 

zwaartekracht. Het fysieke lichaam plooit zich naar 

de dode materie, het object. Ze vechten met elkaar, 

versmelten, worden één om zich weer te delen. Hij 

is als een nieuwsgierig kind die het object ten volle 

onderzoekt, kantelt en keert. Stellato als de 

speelvogel, de homo ludens zoals cultuursocioloog 

en historicus Huizinga het zag waarbij het spel een 

elementaire voorwaarde voor het voortbrengen 

van cultuur vormt. “Mensen zeggen dat je moet 

kiezen tussen spelen of het echte leven. Ik denk dat 

de claim dat er een scheiding tussen die twee is, 

erg gevaarlijk is,” dixit webkunstenaar en gameontwerper 

Stephen Linhart. Het is een leus die 

Stellato volledig ter harte neemt (hij wil overigens 

in de toekomst ‘l’autre’ ook graag als 

kindervoorstelling spelen). 

Kinderlijk naïef, maar nooit vrijblijvend legt Stellato 

zichzelf in ‘l’autre’ spelregels op. Hij speelt 

verstoppertje in de kast. Speelt reisje-rond-dewereld 

waarbij hij de grond niet mag raken. Hij is 

het kind dat opgaat in zijn eigen fantasie en aan het 

object levende eigenschappen toekent: zoals voor 

LIV LAVEYNE 32

comforter of big and small sorrows. The closet is 

his playfellow, his imaginary friend, the other. But 

not without any danger… the closet calls for him. 

Is it alive or bewitched? Are there dark forces 

involved? Is there a ghost or a spirit in the closet? 

Visual artsL’autre does not only boast an amazing 

suggestive strength in its play, but also in its 

pictorial, successive images. Opening with the 

strange sight of the closet balanced on Stellato’s 

neck, the piece unravels one scene after another. 

What movement follows naturally from the 

previous one? What is the perfect continuation? 

These were vital questions for Stellato during the 

creative process. It is the natural order of events 

that has shaped Stellato’s performance rather 

than the other way round, as is the case in many 

creations. 

It is a method of working that is similar to those 

used by Dadaistic and surrealistic writers and 

visual artists: ‘écriture automatique’ (automatic 

writing), writing without predefined ideas or 

purpose in order to dip into one’s subconscious. 

Or the technique of ‘cadavre exquis’ (exquisite 

corpse), where a series of artists contribute in 

turn to complete a single illustration or piece of 

writing. It is not surprising that children love to 

play this game: one starts a drawing, folds the 

paper and another continues without having seen 

the first part, and so on. This often results in 

the most unusual creations. 

In L’autre as well, surrealistic images unfold on 

the stage, such as when the closet grows feet and 

hands and Stellato puts out his head, creeping like 

a snail with its shell on its back. Another image of 

a loose, whirling head in the closet could have 

been from a work by Magritte or from Dalí’s 

‘raphaelesque head exploding’. 

Those are not at all the only associations one can 

make with visual arts history. Stellato, with his 

long and tan face, resembles a Christ figure from 

an icon by Giotto or the early renaissance frescos 

by Cimabue or Fra Angelico. And L’autre recalls 

the renaissance by playing with perspective, too. 

The closet becomes a long wooden beam, 

seemingly hovering; Stellato sits on it, then walks 

along it like Christ resurrected from the grave. The 

het kind de pop een baby is, een knuffelbeer de 

trooster van grote en kleine verdrietjes, zo is de 

kast zijn speelkameraad, zijn ingebeelde vriendje, 

de ander. Maar niet zonder gevaar… De kast roept 

hem. Het object wordt bezield of is het behekst? 

Zijn hier duistere krachten in het spel? Huist er een 

spook, zit er een geest in de kast? 

Beeldende kunst 

‘L’autre’ boogt niet alleen op een ongelooflijk 

suggestieve kracht in spel, maar ook in picturaliteit 

van de opeenvolgende beelden. Van de kast op zijn 

nek ontrolt zich de ene na de andere scène. Welke 

beweging vloeit organisch voort uit de 

voorgaande? Wat is de perfecte continuering van 

hetgeen daarvoor? Het waren de cruciale vragen 

die Stellato zich stelde tijdens zijn werkproces. Het 

is het spontane verloop die bij Stellato de 

voorstelling gevormd heeft tot wat die is en niet 

omgekeerd zoals zo vaak het geval is bij een 

creatie. 

Het is een werkwijze die erg gelijkloopt met de 

methodes die de dadaïstische en surrealistische 

schrijvers en beeldend kunstenaars hanteerden: de 

écriture automatique waarbij geschreven wordt 

zonder vooropgezet idee of doelmatigheid met de 

bedoeling het onderbewuste aan te spreken, of de 

techniek van de cadavre exquis waarbij meerdere 

kunstenaars elkaars afbeelding of schrijfsel verder 

aanvullen (niet toevallig ook een graag en vaak 

gespeeld kinderspel: je begint met een tekening op 

een papiertje, vouwt het papiertje om en een 

tweede persoon die niet weet wat je getekend 

hebt, tekent verder. Vandaar gaat het naar een 

derde, een vierde persoon… Het resulteert vaak in 

de meest vreemde creaties). Ook bij ‘l’autre’ 

ontpoppen zich surrealistische beelden voor onze 

ogen: de kast krijgt voetjes en handen, Stellato 

steekt zijn kop eruit, glijdt als een slak met een 

huisje op zijn rug. Het losse tollende hoofd in de 

kast had een werk van Magritte of Dali 

(‘raphaelesque head exploding’) kunnen zijn. 

En het zijn lang niet de enige associaties naar de 

beeldende kunstgeschiedenis die je maakt. 

Stellato met zijn gezicht, lang en getaand, heeft 

veel weg van een Christusfiguur zo weggelopen 

uit een icoon van Giotto of de vroegrenaissancistische 

fresco’s van Cimabue of 

LIV LAVEYNE 33


accurate lighting embraces the dramatic baroque 

effect of clair-obscure – another term for which is 

‘tenebrum’, from the Latin ‘tenebrae’, generally 

meaning darkness, as well as shadow or shade, 

a denotation remarkably fitting the concept of 

L’autre. 

The red carpet lends the performance a theatrical 

aspect, like a red carpet welcome for an unknown 

personage. The lighting variations breathe the 

mystical aspect of Rothko’s paintings like 

brushstrokes. This Russian-American painter 

dissociated himself from the figurative and 

symbolic by painting his ‘multiforms’, large 

canvases with intense ranges of colouring (often 

in red), which, in Rothko’s own words, “gives the 

canvas its own vitality”. In this case, it is the scene 

having its own spirit. Through lighting, the scene’s 

tonalities and gradations are explored. The idea of 

Rothko’s paintings as “surfaces that shine 

expansively in all directions as well as draw one’s 

gaze inside”, can also be read in relation to the 

scenography in L’autre. It converts the theatrical 

space into a mystical, almost religious place. 

Incidentally, Rothko himself was, while on a trip 

through Italy, was moved by the sensitivity, 

serenity and intensity of the light in Fra Angelico’s 

frescos at the San Marco monastery in Firenze. It 

would inspire him later on to build his own Rothko 

Chapel in Houston, Texas. 

Spectators’ reactions to Rothko’s canvases vary 

from tears of intense spiritual experience to other 

Fra Angelico. Maar ‘l’autre’ omarmt verder de 

renaissance in een spel met perspectief. De kast 

wordt een lange balk die in het niets lijkt te zweven, 

Stellato zit erop, wandelt als een verrezen Christus 

uit zijn doodskist opgestaan. Het secure lichtgebruik 

hanteert het dramatische barokke effect 

van clair-obscur (een andere term hiervoor is 

‘tenebrum’, naar het Latijnse tenebrae dat zoveel 

betekent als duisternis, maar in tweede instantie 

ook schaduwen of schimmen, een betekenis die 

wonderwel aansluit bij het gegeven van ‘l’autre’). 

Het rode tapijt geeft het gebeuren iets theatraals, 

als een rode loper die wordt uitgerold voor een 

ongekende identiteit. De lichtveranderingen 

ademen als borstelstreken de mystiek van 

Rothko’s schilderijen. Deze Russisch-Amerikaanse 

schilder kwam met zijn ‘multiforms’, metersgrote 

doeken met intense kleurschakeringen (vaak van 

rood), los van het figuratieve en het symbolische 

waarbij – om het met Rothko’s woorden te zeggen 

– “het doek zelf zijn eigen levenskracht bezit”. In 

het geval van ‘l’autre’ is dat doek de ruimte die een 

eigen levensadem krijgt. Door het licht worden alle 

tonaliteiten, schakeringen in de ruimte verkent. 

Zoals Rothko’s doeken “oppervlaktes zijn die zowel 

expansief naar buiten in alle richtingen stralen en 

tegelijk je blik aanzuigen” zo geldt dat voor de 

scenografie van ‘l’autre’. Het herschept de 

theatrale ruimte tot een mystieke, welhaast 

religieuze plek. (Rothko zelf werd tijdens een trip 

door Italië enorm gepakt door de sensitiviteit, 

sereniteit en concentratie van licht in de fresco’s 

LIV LAVEYNE 34

extreme reactions, including the recently 

sentenced vandal’s act perpetrated by Vladimir 

Umanets. It doesn’t come to that in Stellato’s 

performance, but one can balance between 

contemplation, fear and liberating laughter. 

Pure magic 

The mystical. The inexplicable. It intrigues, makes 

someone curious as well as afraid. It is no 

coincidence that magic in all its aspects and 

expressions has received a new impetus over the 

last few years. Fascination for magic corresponds 

to a whole movement that, whether we want it to 

be or not, is also related to religion. As described 

by Gwen Aduh from Compagnie des Femmes à 

Barbe: “To me, magic is a continuation of religion. 

In the end, I am always amazed at people’s 

credulity and eagerness for paranormal 

phenomena. It is the spectator’s wish for it to be 

real that favours my spectacle.” After atheism and 

fragmented postmodernism, the urge for unity 

recurs: between earthly nature and the 

supernatural, even the divine. Or between a 

wooden closet and ‘the other’. 

This renewed interest for magic shows itself in 

popular culture, with the revival of science fiction 

and fantasy in literature and cinema from The 

Lord of the Rings to Twilight. Some see Stellato’s 

L’autre as a modern dance performance, others 

see the plot of a good, old-time horror movie (or a 

bewitched hotel room, as in 1408 starring John 

Cusack). Besides, Stellato’s next performance will 

be “something with samurai swords”. Maybe 

something in keeping with House of Flying 

Daggers or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? 

Within performing arts, there is the movement of 

new magic, different from magic in film or visual 

arts. “When painting diverts the real in the 

physical space of the image, new magic plays 

with the real within the real,” says Raphaël 

Navarro, who is one of the prominent voices 

within new magic with his Compagnie 14:20. 

In new magic, the act is not the objective but a 

means to artistic creation. Stellato concurs: “I am 

not a magician, I use this as a medium to perform 

a contemporary act.” The trick itself is not the 

most important part, nor is belief or disbelief. It is 

van Fra Angelico in het klooster van San Marco in 

Firenze. Het zou hem aanzetten tot de bouw van 

een eigen Rothko-kapel in Houston, Texas). 

De reacties van toeschouwers op Rothko’s doeken 

variëren van tranen door een intense spirituele 

ervaring tot gans andere extreme reacties waarbij 

de recent veroordeelde vandalenstreek van 

Vladimir Umanets een uiting was. Niet dat het bij 

Stellato zo’n vaart loopt, maar toch balanceer je 

ook bij ‘l’autre’ tussen contemplatie, angst en 

bevrijdende lach. 

Pure magie 

Het mystieke. Het onverklaarbare. Het intrigeert, 

maakt nieuwsgierig, maar ook bang. Het is niet 

toevallig dat het magische in al zijn aspecten en 

uitingen de afgelopen jaren een nieuwe impuls 

heeft gekregen. De fascinatie voor het magische 

correleert met een ganse beweging die – of we dat 

nu willen of niet – ook samenhangt met religie. Of 

zoals Gwen Aduh van circusgezelschap 

Compagnie des Femmes à Barbe stelt: “Magie is 

voor mij een verlengstuk van religie. Uiteindelijk sta 

ik altijd versteld van de menselijke lichtgelovigheid 

en de gretigheid naar paranormale fenomenen. 

Het is de wens van de toeschouwer dat het écht is 

die mijn spektakels dient.” Na het atheïsme en 

fragmentarische postmodernisme laat zich terug 

de drang naar eenheid gevoelen: van aardse natuur 

en het bovennatuurlijke, het goddelijke zo je wilt. 

Van de houten kast tot l’autre. 

De hernieuwde interesse voor magie toont zich in 

de populaire cultuur met de heropleving van 

science fiction en fantasy in literatuur en films 

gaande van ‘Lord of the Ring’ tot ‘Twilight’. Voor de 

één een moderne dansvoorstelling, heeft Stellato’s 

‘l’autre’ voor de ander het plot van een goede 

ouderwetse spookhuisfilm (of een behekste 

hotelkamer zoals ‘1408’ met John Cusack). 

(Stellato’s volgende voorstelling wordt overigens 

“iets met samoeraizwaarden”. Misschien in de 

traditie van ‘House of the flying daggers’ of 

‘Crouching tiger, hidden dragon’?). 

Binnen de performing arts is er de beweging van 

de magie nouvelle, die verschilt van de magie van 

de film of beeldende kunst. ‘Als de schilderkunst 

het reële ombuigt in de ruimte van het beeld, dan 

LIV LAVEYNE 35

a way of telling his artistic story, of supporting his 

creation. It is not about oohs and aahs from the 

audience, but about creating an atmosphere that 

inspires imagination. 

The otherL’autre excels at pure and almost naïve, 

childlike simplicity. With no more than two closets 

and his body, Stellato builds an intriguing 

performance that exceeds the range of a single 

discipline – and even the limits of the intelligible. 

Suddenly, there is a bump in the carpet. Is this 

l’autre, the other? Or is it our imagination, or a 

trick? Does Stellato want to tell us something 

else? Because those who want to can read into 

L’autre a social criticism of loneliness and 

isolation, which can drive people mad until they 

start talking to a closet… or the closet starts 

talking to them. 

The inner imbalance that makes this man, isolated 

in his room, struggle through its contents, takes 

possession of the audience as well. He levitates, is 

frenetically overpowered and flung, smashed from 

the darkness to the ground, is lifted up and lands 

on the carpet again. Both madly funny and with 

fear persistently lurking around the corner. And 

right at the moment we believe we have seen 

through to the machinery behind the illusion, 

revealing neon lamps flash on. The whole stage is 

bathed in the merciless light. “Nothing in my 

pocket, nothing up my sleeve,” is what Stellato 

seems to say. Until he vanishes into thin air again. 

And then, when we think we’ve seen it all, there is 

the exceptional ending. It would be a shame to 

spill the beans, so instead we promise: it is 

memorable! 

buigt de magie nouvelle het reële om in het reële,” 

aldus Raphaël Navarro, die met zijn Compagnie 

14:20 een van de toonaangevende stemmen 

binnen de magie nouvelle is. 

Bij de magie nouvelle is de truc niet het doel is 

maar het middel tot artistieke creatie. Dat 

benadrukt ook Stellato: “Ik ben geen goochelaar, ik 

gebruik dit als middel om iets op scène te brengen 

dat hedendaags is.” Het is hem niet om de truc te 

doen, noch het geloof of ongeloof erin, de truc is 

puur een middel om zijn artistieke verhaal mee te 

vertellen, zijn creatie te ondersteunen. Het gaat 

hem niet om de oohs en aahs in het publiek, maar 

om een sfeer te creëren en alzo de verbeelding van 

het publiek te triggeren. 

De ander 

‘L’autre’ blinkt uit in pure welhaast naïef kinderlijke 

eenvoud. Maar met twee kastjes en een lichaam 

maakt Stellato een intrigerende voorstelling die 

de grenzen van disciplines en het bevattelijke 

overstijgt. Een plotse bubbel in het tapijt 

verschijnt. Is dit l’autre, de ander? Of is het 

allemaal maar inbeelding, een truc? Of wil Stellato 

meer vertellen? Want wie dat wil, leest in ‘l’autre’ 

ook een sociale kritiek op eenzaamheid en 

isolement waarin vele mensen zich bevinden en 

langzaam gek worden en tegen kasten gaan 

spreken … of de kast tegen hen. 

De innerlijke gekte waarmee deze man, 

geïsoleerd in zijn kamer, op scène worstelt, maakt 

zich ook van ons meester. Hij leviteert boven de 

grond, wordt als een bezetene overmant wanneer 

hij vanuit de donkerte de vloer wordt opgesmeten, 

gesmakt, terug omhooggetild en terug op het 

tapijt belandt. Tegelijk waanzin-nig grappig, loert 

steeds die angst om de hoek. Net wanneer je 

meent het allemaal wel door te hebben, de ganse 

machinerie die achter dit waanbeeld schuilt, 

floepen ontluisterende tl-lampen aan. De ganse 

scène baadt in het ongenadige licht. “Niks in de 

handen, niks in de mouwen,” lijkt Stellato te willen 

zeggen. Tot hij even plots weer verdwijnt in het 

niets. En net wanneer je denkt alles gezien te 

hebben is er het bijzondere slot. Verklappen zou 

zonde zijn, maar we beloven: het is onvergetelijk! 

LIV LAVEYNE 36

The show 

offstage 

M I Q U E L V A L L S 

How do artists articulate their discourse 

offstage? Are their thoughts, concerns and 

creative impulses reflected in the performance 

piece? Does the way that artists verbalise their 

work enrich the piece or does it strip it of 

magic and mystery? These and other questions 

came up in interviews with three performing 

artists – Claudio Stellato (Italy), Kalle 

Hakkarainen (Finland) and Raphäel Navarro 

(France) – conducted as part of the 8th Festival 

novog cirkusa in Zagreb. 

After the interviews we held in Zagreb, my fellow 

circus critics and cultural journalists participating 

in the Unpack the Arts residency shared a fairly 

widespread idea: the desire to see shows again 

after having spoken with the artists. These types 

of interviews often have a bit of this: they make 

you want to learn more about the show, to 

examine some details that might have gone over 

your head. Listening to the artists’ thoughts on 

their work is stimulating. Furthermore, something 

else arises in these interviews that is shared by 

journalists and readers alike: curiosity. We ask 

why we are curious and why we want to know 

what lies behind the creative processes. The more 

we know about this, the more we enjoy it, which 

shows that knowledge is not separate from 

excitement. 

Raphaël Navarro and the new magic 

The programme for the 8th Festival novog cirkusa 

has placed special attention on new magic (magie 

nouvelle), a movement initiated by Raphaël 

Navarro and Clément Debailleul that aims to 

renew the artistic discipline. The interview we held 

with Raphaël Navarro was a bit cryptic. The fact 

that Navarro speaks in halting English may have 

contributed to this notion. In any case, if we focus 

on the definition that the artist gives to the 

movement, we see that it is hard to understand at 

first: “the new magic is an art whose language is 

L’espectacle fora 

de l’escenari 

M I Q U E L V A L L S 

Com articulen els artistes el seu discurs fora de 

l’escenari? Les seves reflexions, neguits i 

impulsos creatius, es veuen reflectits a la peça 

escènica? La verbalització que fa l’artista 

sobre el seu treball, enriqueix la peça o la 

despulla de la màgia i el misteri? Aquestes i 

altres qüestions sorgeixen a partir de les 

entrevistes a tres creadors escènics, Claudio 

Stellato (Itàlia), Kalle Hakkarainen (Finlàndia) i 

Raphäel Navarro (França), realitzades en el 

marc del 8è Festival Novog Cirkusa de Zagreb. 

Arran de les entrevistes que vàrem fer a Zagreb, hi 

havia una idea bastant estesa entre els companys 

crítics de circ i periodistes culturals de la 

residència: les ganes de veure els espectacles una 

segona vegada després d’haver parlat amb els 

artistes. Sovint aquest tipus d’entrevistes ja ho 

tenen això, fan venir ganes de saber més coses 

sobre l’espectacle, de fixar-se amb alguns detalls 

que potser se’ns havien passat per alt. Escoltar 

les reflexions del creador sobre la seva obra és 

estimulant. Per altra banda, en el fet de 

l’entrevista hi ha una altra cosa que és compartida 

entre els mateixos que la fan (els periodistes) i els 

lectors (el públic): la curiositat. Preguntem perquè 

som curiosos i perquè ens agrada saber què hi ha 

darrera els processos creatius. Com més en 

sabem, més en gaudim, la qual cosa demostra 

que el coneixement no està renyit amb l’emoció. 

Raphaël Navarro i la nova màgia 

La programació de la 8a edició del Festival Novog 

Cirkusa ha prestat especial atenció a la nova 

màgia (magie nouvelle), un moviment iniciat per 

Raphaël Navarro i Clément Debailleul que 

proposa la renovació d’aquesta disciplina 

artística. L’entrevista que vàrem fer a Raphaël 

Navarro va ser un pèl encriptada. Probablement, 

el fet que Navarro s’expressés en un anglès poc 

fluid, va aguditzar aquesta sensació. De totes 

maneres, si ens fixem en la definició que dóna el 

MIQUEL VALLS 37

diversion of the real within the real” (La magie 

nouvelle c’est un art dont le langage est le 

détournement du réel dans le réel). In other 

words, the images do not correspond to any 

illusion, but constitute a new order of reality by 

themselves. Virtuality is no longer interesting. It is 

symptomatic that his explanations are not at all 

clear, since the definition of the movement hardly 

is either. 

Raphaël Navarro and Clément Debailleul formed 

the company 14:20 in 2000 and have worked 

closely with Valentine Losseau from the start, 

who was also present in Zagreb. Losseau is an 

ethnologist, whilst the other two are magicians. 

This makes for a surprising combination that 

brings extraordinary richness. Losseau has 

studied traditional magic techniques in India in 

depth, especially among street magicians. Her 

contribution to writing the shows is essential. In 

this company, research and artistic creation coexist, 

and for good or for ill that clearly influences 

its discourse, full of technical terms and 

conceptual complexity. 

I had never heard of the new magic until I arrived 

in Zagreb. I was unaware of the movement, its 

founders and its key representative companies. 

Navarro and Losseau talked about animism, 

levitation, disappearance, sleeping, awakening, 

etcetera. I had no genre in mind, but whilst I 

listened to them I saw images of shows by the 

Peeping Tom dance company (Brussels). Artists 

are increasingly working with different artistic 

languages and the idea of putting them in boxes 

(circus, contemporary dance, visual theatre, 

etcetera) no longer has meaning. The 

contemporary dance-based worlds that this 

Belgian company creates share elements that 

can be as magical as any magie nouvelle 

company. 

Claudio Stellato, the craftsman 

The most direct impression you get after speaking 

with Claudio Stellato for a while is the realisation 

that sometimes stereotypes are true. Stellato is 

spontaneous, extroverted and has a sense of 

humour; he speaks loudly and gesticulates a lot… 

he is the very essence of an Italian. He even 

showed up for the interview with an espresso in 

mateix artista al moviment, veurem que costa 

d’entendre a la primera: “la nova màgia és l’art, 

el llenguatge del qual, és la desviació del real dins 

del real” (La magie nouvelle c’est un art dont le 

langage est le détournement du réel dans le réel). 

És a dir, les imatges no corresponen a cap il·lusió, 

sinó que elles mateixes constitueixen un nou 

ordre de la realitat. La virtualitat deixa de tenir 

interès. No deixa de ser simptomàtic que les 

seves explicacions no fossin del tot clares, ja que 

tampoc ho és gaire la definició del moviment. 

Raphaël Navarro i Clément Debailleul van formar 

la companyia 14:20 l’any 2000 i des del principi 

han treballat estretament amb Valentine Losseau, 

que també estava present a Zagreb. Losseau 

és etnòloga, mentre que ells dos són mags. 

La combinació és sorprenent i els aporta una 

riquesa extraordinària. Losseau ha estudiat 

a fons les tècniques de la màgia tradicional a 

l’Índia, concretament els mags de carrer. La 

seva aportació a l’escriptura dels espectacles és 

fonamental. En aquesta companyia la recerca i la 

creació artística conviuen perfectament, i és 

evident que això contamina, per bé o per mal, el 

seu discurs, ple de tecnicismes i complexitat 

conceptual. 

No havia sentit mai a parlar de la nova màgia fins 

que vaig arribar a Zagreb. Desconeixia el 

moviment, els seus fundadors i les companyies 

més representatives. Navarro i Losseau parlaven 

d’animisme, levitació, desaparició, somni, 

revetlla… No tenia present cap espectacle del 

gènere, però mentre els escoltava em venien 

imatges d’espectacles de la companyia de dansa 

Pepping Tom (Brussel·les). Cada cop més, els 

artistes treballen amb diferents llenguatges 

artístics i la idea d’encaixonar-los (circ, dansa 

contemporània, teatre visual, etc.) deixa de tenir 

sentit. Els universos que, per exemple, crea 

aquesta companyia belga sobre la base de la 

dansa contemporània, comparteixen elements 

que poden ser tant màgics com qualsevol 

companyia pròpia de la magie nouvelle. 

Claudio Stellato, l’artesà. 

La impressió més directa després de conversar 

una estona amb Claudio Stellato és la de 

constatar que a vegades els tòpics són veritat. 

MIQUEL VALLS 38

his hand! Certainly, in his show (L’Autre) there is 

a clear correlation between some aspects of his 

personality and the final result. Humour is one 

example of this. Stellato does not want to 

marginalise this essential part of the circus and is 

critical of the fact that certain artistic spheres 

think the darker and more serious a work is, the 

better. In this sense, he says that the atmosphere 

at circus festivals is more pleasant and enjoyable 

than at contemporary dance festivals or shows, 

where it seems that seriousness is the norm. 

Moreover, if we consider the working 

methodology that Stellato describes, we realise 

that nothing is left to chance and everything is 

the result of deep and measured investigation. 

It took three long years to create L’Autre. Like a 

craftsman, Stellato created the piece bit by bit. 

The process was so slow because the piece’s 

choreography was developed at the same time 

that the movements were set chronologically, 

and it can take months to set a movement. It is 

interesting to see here that the artist expresses 

his ideas in a pleasant and very funny way, whilst 

his work is rigorous and extremely precise. 

Listening to him speak, one might imagine that 

he likes to play and improvise on the stage, but 

in reality everything is thought out and calculated 

to the last millimetre. 

A piece can be made in a thousand and one 

different ways. Stellato works in solitude, and for 

two reasons. The first is practical, since to make 

L’Autre he couldn’t pay anyone else to work with 

him on such a long process. The piece was made 

with no budget and everything was self-made. 

Second, he says he could not have done it any 

other way. How could he work with someone on 

something when he didn’t know what it would 

become and still could not explain it? Stellato’s 

position here is honest and sincere: he doesn’t 

share the work with anyone until he has the 

framework thought out. 

One of the most mysterious and fascinating 

things about artistic creation is when we ask 

artists why they chose the theme of their work. 

Artists don’t often have a clear answer to this 

question. For Stellato, the question was why the 

‘other’? Why this insistence on the other? It is 

Stellato és espontani, extravertit, té sentit de 

l’humor, parla alt, gesticula molt… essència 

italiana. Si fins i tot es presenta a l’entrevista amb 

un expresso a la mà! Certament, al seu 

espectacle (L’autre), hi ha una correlació evident 

d’alguns aspectes de la seva personalitat amb el 

resultat final de la peça. L’humor n’és un exemple. 

Stellato no vol marginar aquesta part fonamental 

del circ i es mostra crític amb el fet que, en 

determinats ambients artístics, es consideri que 

les obres, com més serioses i fosques, millor. En 

aquest sentit, afirma que en els festivals de circ 

es respira un ambient més amè i agradable 

que no pas en els festivals o mostres de dansa 

contemporània, on sembla que la seriositat és 

la norma. 

Tanmateix, si observem la metodologia de treball 

que el mateix Stellato descriu, ens adonem que 

no hi ha res a l’atzar, que tot és fruit d’una 

investigació profunda i mesurada. El procés de 

creació de L’autre es va allargar durant tres anys. 

Com un artesà, Stellato, va anar creant la peça 

molt a poc a poc. El procés és molt lent perquè la 

coreografia de la peça avança a mesura que es 

van fixant els moviments d’un forma cronològica, 

i un moviment pot trigar mesos a fixar-se. És 

interessant veure que en aquest cas, l’artista 

expressa les idees d’un forma molt amena i 

divertida, però en canvi el seu treball és rigorós 

i extremadament precís. Sentint-lo a parlar, 

un podria pensar que li agrada jugar i improvisar 

a l’escenari, però en realitat tot està pensat i 

calculat al mil·límetre. 

Els processos de creació d’una peça poden ser de 

mil i una maneres diferents. Stellato ho fa des de 

la solitud, per dues raons. La primera per una 

qüestió material, ja que per fer L’autre no podia 

pagar cap altra persona que l’acompanyés en un 

procés tan llarg. La peça es va fer sense diners i 

tot és autoconstruït. I en segon lloc, perquè 

afirma no poder-ho fer d’una altra manera. Com 

estar acompanyat en el moment de fer una cosa 

que un mateix no sap què serà i que encara no pot 

explicar? En aquest sentit, la posició d’Stellato és 

honrada i sincera: no comparteix el treball amb 

ningú fins que no té l’esquelet de l’obra pensat. 

MIQUEL VALLS 39

very interesting that a person who has been 

immersed in a creative process for three years 

cannot adequately explain where the driving force 

comes from that has pushed him so far. It took 

Stellato a few seconds to respond to this 

question. Until then all his answers had been 

quick and fluid, but he suddenly blurted out: 

“I don’t know. It’s as if one day you’re walking 

around Zagreb and you suddenly say: ‘I want 

six birds’. That’s it, I’ve got it. And from then on, 

you hold to this idea and you don’t stop until 

you achieve it.” Claudio Stellato has his own 

perception of the show but says he doesn’t want 

to share it. 

Kalle Hakkarainen, visual theatre, 

technology and magic 

Whilst we interviewed Kalle Hakkarainen, we saw 

that he wanted to explain many things. He spoke 

fluidly, in an ordered and convincing way. The 

piece we saw could be summarised in a few 

words like new technologies, careful light design, 

electronic music, art film (Lynch, Cronenberg) and 

solitude. It captured the essential Nordic image. 

So here we are with stereotypes again? 

Hakkarainen recognises that he likes that there is 

a certain ambiguity in his work: is it comical? Is it 

serious? His discourse also conveys this duality, 

but above all he is a person who conveys safety, 

knowledge and love for his craft. 

One of the great discussions that magic has had 

and continues to have as an artistic discipline 

centres on the combination of tricks and 

dramaturgy. Hakkarainen gave a very good 

explanation of how this question is also one of his 

main concerns as an artist, which he covers and 

practices in each of his shows. This artist uses 

magic tricks because he thinks they are the best 

resource he has to accompany the story, and 

because he is convinced that magic is an art that 

can achieve a level of excitement and 

spectacularity that is hard for other artistic 

disciplines to match. Whilst he was preparing the 

show, Hakkarainen read a story about a car 

accident in the newspaper. The impact was so 

strong, the story said, that even the coins that 

were in the crash victim’s jeans pocket shot out 

through the windshield. The idea of a car accident 

and of the massive confusion it creates in its 

Una de les coses enigmàtiques i fascinants de 

la creació és quan preguntem als artistes sobre 

el per què del tema de l’obra. En molts casos, 

els artistes no tenen una resposta clara sobre 

aquesta qüestió. En el cas d’Stellato, per què 

“l’altre”? Per què aquesta obstinació per allò 

altre? És molt curiós com una persona que ha 

estat 3 anys immersa en un procés creatiu no sap 

explicar ben bé d’on li ve la força motriu que l’ha 

empès fins aquí. Stellato va trigar uns quants 

segons a respondre aquesta pregunta. Fins 

llavors, tot havien estat respostes ràpides i àgils, 

i de cop i volta va etzibar: “No ho sé. És com si 

un dia vas caminant per Zagreb i de sobte dius: 

Vull sis ocells. És això, ja ho tinc. I a partir d’aquí, 

t’agafes en aquesta idea i no pares fins que ho 

aconsegueixes.” Claudio Stellato té la seva pròpia 

percepció de l’espectacle però afirma no voler-la 

compartir. 

Kalle Hakkarainen, teatre visual, 

tecnologia i màgia 

Mentre entrevistàvem a Kalle Hakkarainen es 

notava que tenia ganes d’explicar moltes coses. 

El seu discurs és elegant, fluid, convincent i 

ordenat. La peça que vàrem veure es podria 

resumir amb paraules com, noves tecnologies, 

disseny acurat de llums, música electrònica, 

cinema d’autor (Lynch, Cronenberg), solitud… 

És la viva imatge d’allò nòrdic. Altre cop els 

tòpics? Hakkarainen reconeix que li agrada que 

hi hagi una certa ambigüitat en la seva obra, 

és còmica? és seriosa? El seu discurs també 

transmet aquesta dualitat, però sobretot és una 

persona que transmet seguretat, coneixement i 

estima per l’ofici. 

Un dels grans debats que ha tingut i té la màgia 

com a disciplina artística és la combinació dels 

trucs amb la dramatúrgia. Hakkarainen va explicar 

molt bé com aquesta qüestió és també una de les 

grans preocupacions que té com a creador i que 

aborda i practica en cada un dels seus 

espectacles. Aquest artista utilitza els trucs de 

màgia perquè creu que és el millor dels recursos 

dels quals disposa per acompanyar la història, 

i perquè està convençut que la màgia és l’únic 

art que pot aconseguir una emoció i una 

espectacularitat, que difícilment poden assolir 

altres disciplines artístiques. Mentre preparava 

MIQUEL VALLS 40

victims is very much part of the piece we saw 

(Nopeussokeus). Accounts of serious car 

accidents share the fact that the victims are so 

overwhelmed in the moments after the impact 

that they adopt a peaceful air. Hakkarainen 

speaks about all that in his show and uses magic 

because, according to him, it is the best way to 

express these kinds of emotions. Here, magic is in 

the service of the story and the work as a whole. 

Hakkarainen and Stellato share quite a few things 

in common. Perhaps the most prominent is the 

fact that neither considers themselves 

storytellers, meaning that they basically 

concentrate all their energy in their shows on 

creating a certain atmosphere and aesthetic. The 

Finn said that they don’t aim to give any 

information from the stage, but simply to let the 

audience think for the time that the show lasts. 

The story that all three artists develop is simple 

and uses few stage elements. Stellato’s work is 

only accompanied by a couple of closets onstage; 

in the fragment of Navarro’s work there is a single 

wooden pole; and in Hakkarainen’s piece there is 

only a screen, cables and a chair. Simplicity is a 

virtue in all three. There is no room for 

improvisation, as everything is set to the 

millimetre. Hakkarainen and Stellato explained 

the characteristics of their work with a similar 

language: level and direct. Navarro did so with 

technical terminology and concepts more 

properly linked to the humanities. The silences 

and mysterious way he speaks is also transmitted 

to the stage. 

Throughout the three interviews, the word 

“specific” came out a few times. Not one of the 

interviewed artists wants to feel part of any 

school or of any aesthetic trend. Their 

contribution is personal, genuine and specific. This 

was especially evident in Raphaël Navarro’s case. 

The concept of originality doesn’t concern them 

either: what does it mean to do something new 

today? What they are mostly concerned about is 

that the show is interesting. In any case, the 

research takes quite a long time, which means 

they only work with a few people because to do 

otherwise would cost too much money. Are the 

artists the people onstage or do they construct a 

character? Generally, the idea of “presenting” 

l’espectacle, Hakkarainen va llegir al diari una 

crònica d’un accident de cotxe. L’impacte va ser 

tan fort, deia la notícia, que fins i tot les monedes 

que duia l’accidentada a la butxaca dels texans 

van sortir disparades per la finestra. La idea de 

l’accident de cotxe, i l’enorme desconcert que 

provoca entre les víctimes, està molt present a 

la peça que vàrem veure (Speed Blindness). 

Els relats d’accidents de cotxe greus coincideixen 

a dir que, les persones estan tan sobrepassades 

en els moments posteriors de l’impacte, que 

adopten una posició tranquil·la. Hakkarainen parla 

de tot això en el seu espectacle i utilitza la màgia 

perquè li és útil i perquè, segons ell, és la millor 

manera per expressar aquest tipus d’emocions. 

La màgia al servei de la història i del conjunt de 

l’obra. 

Hakkarainen i Stellato comparteixen força trets 

en comú. Potser el més destacat és que cap dels 

dos es considera un storyteller, això vol dir que en 

els seus espectacles, concentren tota la seva 

energia bàsicament en crear un atmosfera i una 

estètica determinada. El finlandès assegura que 

no pretén donar cap informació des de l’escena, 

sinó simplement deixar pensar el públic durant 

l’estona que dura l’espectacle. La història que 

desenvolupen tots tres artistes és simple i 

utilitzen molt pocs elements escènics. A Stellato 

només l’acompanyen un parell d’armaris a 

escena; en el fragment de la peça de Navarro hi ha 

una única vara de fusta; i a la peça de Hakkarainen 

tans sols hi ha una pantalla, cables i una cadira. 

La simplicitat és un valor pels tres. No hi ha espai 

per a la improvisació, tot està fixat al mil·límetre. 

Hakkarainen i Stellato expliquen les 

característiques del seu treball amb un llenguatge 

semblant: planer i directe. Navarro ho fa des de la 

terminologia tècnica i amb conceptes més 

relacionats amb les ciències humanes. El caràcter 

enigmàtic i els silencis mentre parla també es 

transmeten a l’escena. 

Al llarg de les tres entrevistes, la paraula 

“específic” va sortir unes quantes vegades. Cap 

dels artistes entrevistats vol sentir-se part de cap 

escola, de cap tendència estètica. La seva 

aportació és personal, genuïna, específica. En el 

cas de Raphaël Navarro això es feia especialment 

evident. El concepte d’originalitat tampoc els 

MIQUEL VALLS 41

prevails over the idea of “representing”. The 

relation among the objects that surround the 

stage is paramount. For them, that is more 

important than constructing a character. 

In general, the three artists’ verbal discourse is 

reflected in the staged pieces. What drives them 

to create can be felt from the stage. This is one of 

the most pleasant experiences that audiences 

can have, as it recognises the artist’s work and 

intent. Artists can lose their auras offstage – 

they’re human beings! But that does not strip 

their work of its magic. On the contrary, it leads to 

new questions. 

How do we ask artists questions? 

Finally, I would like to give thought to the opposite 

perspective to what we’ve seen so far. How do 

journalists ask artists questions? How do we 

express an opinion of a show to them? How do 

we build a useful and honest dialogue? I recently 

had the chance to attend a workshop on the 

critical response process as part of the Baboró 

Festival (Galway, Ireland), dedicated to child 

audiences up to six years of age. The workshop 

was aimed at performing arts professionals 

(venue heads, programmers, producers, theatre 

critics) and dealt with studying these issues. The 

workshop organiser laid out a method based on 

using questions. According to his approach, 

expressing an opinion ought to be the final step. 

Before that would come the view of the show (1), 

identification of the positive elements of the work 

(2), formulation of a neutral question (3) and 

finally, formulation of an opinion (4). The 

attendees at Galway had a lot of problems getting 

familiar with this process, especially when 

formulating a neutral question, meaning a 

question free of personal prejudice or judgement. 

In Zagreb however, with its residency for cultural 

journalists, this methodology was applied 

automatically. Furthermore, it was demonstrated 

that formulating a neutral question isn’t a simple 

matter. We are used to expressing an opinion on 

something right away, without exploring the 

subject any further. On the other hand, the Galway 

workshop offered interesting tools for avoiding 

defensive strategies and arguments, which are 

sometimes too common in the artistic 

community and usually not very productive. In 

preocupa, què vol dir fer quelcom nou avui? Els 

preocupa bàsicament que l’espectacle resulti 

interessant. En tots els casos, els processos 

d’investigació són força llargs, la qual cosa 

comporta que es treballi amb poca gent, d’una 

altra manera seria inviable econòmicament 

parlant. Els artistes són ells a l’escenari o 

construeixen un personatge? En general 

predomina la idea de “presentar” més que 

“representar”. La relació amb els objectes que es 

rodegen a l’escenari és cabdal. Per a ells, és més 

important això últim, que no pas la construcció 

d’un personatge. 

En general, el discurs verbal dels tres artistes es 

veu reflectit a la peça escènica. Allò que els 

empeny a crear es palpa a l’escenari. Aquesta és 

una de les sensacions més agradables que un té 

com a espectador, ja que reconeix la feina de 

l’artista i la seva intencionalitat. Els artistes poden 

perden la seva aura fora de l’escenari, són 

humans! Però això no despulla l’obra de la seva 

màgia, al contrari, genera nous interrogants. 

Com preguntar a l’artista? 

Per acabar, voldria exposar una reflexió en el 

sentit invers del que hem vist fins ara. Com els 

periodistes interroguen als artistes? Com 

comunicar-los una opinió sobre un espectacle? 

Com construir un diàleg útil i honest? 

Recentment he tingut la oportunitat d’assistir 

a un taller sobre resposta crítica en el marc 

del festival Baboró (Galway, Irlanda) dedicat 

a públics de 0-6 anys. El taller anava adreçat 

a professionals de les arts escèniques 

(responsables de sales, programadors, 

productors, crítics teatrals) i tractava d’analitzar 

aquestes qüestions. El conductor del taller va 

exposar un mètode basat en l’ús de la pregunta. 

En la seva proposta, l’expressió d’una opinió 

hauria de ser l’últim pas. Abans hi hauria el 

visionat de l’espectacle (I), la identificació dels 

elements positius de l’obra (II), la formulació d’una 

pregunta neutra (III), i finalment, la formulació 

d’una opinió (IV). Entre els presents a Galway hi va 

haver grans dificultats per familiaritzar-se amb 

aquest procés, sobretot alhora de formular una 

pregunta neutra, és a dir, una pregunta lliure de 

judicis o valoracions personals. A Zagreb en canvi, 

al tractar-se d’una residència de periodistes 

MIQUEL VALLS 42

fact, during Raphaël Navarro’s interview, he 

seemed to put up a defensive wall at certain 

times. The premise of honesty must govern this 

process between artists and professionals and 

the experience in Zagreb was very fruitful in this 

regard. 

As Ramon Simó, the artistic director of the Grec 

Festival of Barcelona, reminded the audience 

when presenting last year’s festival, a show is an 

act of communication. Historically, artists haven’t 

been very concerned whether or not their 

messages were understood by the public. All too 

often they created shows for themselves, without 

thinking about how they might be received. If a 

show cannot reach an audience, that means that 

something isn’t working. Maybe it isn’t necessary 

to know all the reasons why, as even the artists 

themselves don’t know, and this is one of the 

great lessons we learned during the residency. 

But it is essential to establish a dialogue between 

the audience and the stage. The interviews in 

Zagreb have been useful for continuing to build 

these crucial bridges between artists and 

audiences, both onstage and offstage. 

culturals, lògicament aquesta metodologia 

s’aplicava de forma automàtica. Tanmateix, es 

va demostrar que la formulació d’una pregunta 

neutra tampoc era una cosa senzilla. Estem molt 

acostumats a expressar una opinió de bones 

a primeres, sense abonar abans el terreny. 

Per altra banda, el taller de Galway oferia eines 

interessants per evitar estratègies i 

argumentacions a la defensiva, sovint massa 

esteses entre la comunitat artística i que 

acostumen a ser poc constructives. De fet, durant 

l’entrevista a Raphaël Navarro, el mateix artista 

semblava que construïa un mur defensiu en 

determinats moments. La premissa de 

l’honestedat ha de regir aquest procés entre 

artistes i professionals i l’experiència de Zagreb 

va ser molt fructífera en aquest aspecte. 

Ramon Simó, el director artístic del Festival Grec 

de Barcelona, ho recordava a la presentació de 

la passada edició del festival entre un grup 

d’espectadors: un espectacle és un acte 

comunicatiu. Històricament, els artistes no s’han 

preocupat gaire que els seus missatges fossin 

compresos entre el públic. Massa vegades han 

creat espectacles per ells mateixos, sense pensar 

en la recepció. Si un espectacle no arriba a 

l’espectador, és que alguna cosa no està 

funcionant. Potser no cal conèixer tots els 

perquès, ni els mateixos artistes ho saben, i 

aquesta és una de les gran lliçons que ens ha 

deixat la residència. Però és fonamental que 

s’estableixi un diàleg entre la platea i l’escenari. 

Les entrevistes de Zagreb han servit per continuar 

teixint aquests ponts tan necessaris entre 

creadors i públics, dins i fora de l’escenari. 

MIQUEL VALLS 43

The beginning 

of the end 

P A U L I N E D E L A B O U L A Y E 

Will Zagreb’s Festival novog cirkusa 

survive into 2013? We only ask 

because this autumn the eighth edition 

will close with an evening marking the winter 

solstice: 21 December 2012. As usual, 

it will be the longest night of the year. 

But this time, according to the Mayan calendar 

and as the programme reminds us, 

it will also be the end of the world. 

I already regret not being able to attend this sendoff 

party for the festival and for the planet Earth: 

“While our absolute stock of alcoholic and soft 

drinks are in charge of the Big Flood (this is an allyou-can 

drink party considering we do not wish to 

carry on remainders to the other world), some of 

the most fruitful performers of the circus and 

sideshow scene, in charge of the Big Bang, 

decided to spend their last evening on Earth 

exactly at The Last Supper. Not suitable for underaged 

and those of sensitive moral opinions and 

stomachs.” 1 

Let’s do it! One last night, one last drink, one last 

circus round! 

Do we detect, in the Croatians, something of a 

taste for melodrama? The announcement of this 

imminent catastrophe has not seemed to cause 

much worry in this country of the Balkans. 

A soupçon of irony and derision belies such a 

reaction to this tragic deadline, a reaction that 

is most certainly rooted in the country’s bloody 

and chaotic history. 

Then again, it is also a speciality of the circus to 

regularly announce its inevitable disappearance, 

with that blend of humour and sadness that one 

only finds in this special art. 

1 http://www.cirkus.hr 

Le début 

de la fin 

P A U L I N E D E L A B O U L A Y E 

Le festival de nouveau cirque de Zagreb 

survivra-t-il en 2013 ? La question se pose, 

car cet automne, la huitième édition du 

Novog Cirkusa se termine par une soirée 

funèbre au solstice d’hiver : le 21 décembre 

2012. Comme chaque année, ce sera la nuit 

la plus longue. Mais cette fois-ci, ce sera aussi 

la fin du monde, rappelle le programme, 

invoquant le calendrier Maya. 

Je regrette déjà de ne pas assister à cette soirée 

de clôture du festival et du monde : « While our 

absolute stock of alcoholic and soft drinks are in 

charge of the Big Flood (this is an all-you-can drink 

party considering we do not wish to carry on 

remainders to the other world), some of the most 

fruitful performers of the circus and sideshow 

scene, in charge of the Big Bang, decided to 

spend their last evening on Earth exactly at The 

Last Supper. Not suitable for underaged and 

those of sensitive moral opinions and 

stomachs 1 . » 

Allez ! un dernier soir, un dernier verre, un dernier 

tour de piste ! 

Les Croates auraient-ils un goût prononcé pour le 

mélodrame ? Il semblerait plutôt que l’annonce 

d’une catastrophe imminente ne provoque pas 

vraiment l’angoisse dans ce pays des Balkans. Il y 

a comme une pointe d’ironie et de dérision sousjacente 

dans la perspective d’une si tragique 

deadline. L’histoire sanglante et chaotique de la 

Croatie y est sans doute pour quelque chose. 

Et puis, c’est aussi une spécialité circassienne 

d’annoncer régulièrement sa toute proche 

disparition avec cet alliage d’humour et de 

tristesse dont seul le cirque a le secret. 

1 http://www.cirkus.hr 

PAULINE DE LA BOULAYE 44

Let us recall the 1970s, that strange period when 

the traditional circus was popular enough to 

appear on television just before entire families 

wound up having to close their tents. Hoping to 

expose the long, slow death of the circus (from 

which it has also benefited), European cinema has 

persistently carved out an image of the circus’ 

profound melancholy. In this vein, we have Fellini’s 

1970 film, The Clowns, a circus-ring adventure 

that shows us what becomes of clowns in the 

modern world. Then there’s the 1974 film, 

Parade, Jacques Tati’s attempt to come “to the 

circus’ rescue”. Ever since, the traditional circus 

has been announcing regularly its own impending 

doom. Meanwhile, an entire generation has 

propelled this curious world into another 

dimension: the new circus. 

Intimately linked with danger, the circus has 

always lived right on the edge of history, 

oscillating between the avant-garde and tradition, 

between fragility and super-strength. Chased 

from the hippodromes, replaced by the music 

halls, then devoured by movies and television, it 

has always survived, its strength lying in the art 

of starting all over again, springing up in new 

territories, constantly redefining itself, holding 

onto life by a thread. 

The art of changing dust into gold 

It was certainly on these terms that Ivan Kralj, 

the creator of Festival novog cirkusa decided to 

engage with the circus in 2005. Croatia was in 

a period of transition at the time. Having just got 

rid of an authoritarian regime, they were already 

turning toward Europe. More attached to 

Freedom than Truth, Ivan left behind a prolific 

and stable career in journalism and television to 

jump into the unknown of the circus – a language 

without borders, a world where there is no 

censure. 

The first edition of FNC was organised without 

public support. The theme, Gravitation, attracted 

some unexpected volunteers. In honour of 

Newton, an apple came to symbolise the 

challenge Ivan and his acolytes were extending to 

the laws of gravity (in both senses of the word). 

The following edition in 2006 evoked the 

Relativity of constraints, the struggle against 

Souvenons-nous des années 1970, étrange 

période durant laquelle le cirque traditionnel 

passe de la popularité télévisuelle à la faillite réelle 

pour des familles entières. Souhaitant dénoncer 

la mort progressive du cirque (dont il est issu), 

le cinéma européen va graver une image 

persistante, de sa profonde mélancolie. 

I clowns de Fellini en 1970 : un voyage sur la piste 

pour tenter de voir ce que les clowns sont 

devenus dans le monde moderne. Parade en 

1974 : une façon de venir « au secours des 

cirques » pour Jacques Tati. Depuis, le cirque 

traditionnel annonce régulièrement ses funérailles 

tandis qu’une génération entière a propulsé 

ce monde à part dans une autre dimension : 

le nouveau cirque. 

Intimement lié au danger, le cirque a ainsi vécu sur 

la brèche de l’histoire, oscillant entre avant-garde 

et tradition, entre fragilité et surpuissance. 

Chassé des hippodromes, remplacé par le musichall, 

puis dévoré par le cinéma et la télévision, 

il a sur-vécu. Sa force réside dans l’art de repartir 

à zéro, de défricher de nouveaux territoires, de se 

redéfinir sans cesse, sur le fil de la vie. 

L’art de transformer la poussière 

en or 

C’est sans doute pour cela, que le cirque et Ivan 

Kralj, créateur du festival Novog Cirkusa de 

Zagreb ont pactisé en 2005. La Croatie est alors 

en pleine transition : à peine sortie d’un régime 

autoritaire, et déjà tournée vers l’Europe. Attaché 

à la Liberté plus qu’à la Vérité, Ivan abandonne 

une carrière bien avancée et confortable dans 

le journalisme et la télévision pour sauter dans 

l’inconnu du cirque : cette planète ouverte au 

langage sans frontières où il n’y a pas de censure. 

La première édition se fait sans aucune aide 

publique. Le thème de la Gravitation fédère des 

énergies bénévoles inattendues. En hommage à 

Newton, une pomme devient le symbole du défi 

lancé par Ivan et ses acolytes aux lois de la gravité 

(dans les deux sens du terme). L’édition suivante 

en 2006 évoque la Relativité des contraintes, la 

lutte avec les limites, le dépassement de soi. 

Ironie du sort, un obstacle apparaît : le théâtre 

national et le théâtre de la ville annulent au 


obstacles, pushing oneself to the limit. Ironically, 

an obstacle would present itself. The national and 

city theatres withdrew their facilities from the 

programme at the last minute. “Informed of the 

scandal, the Minister of Culture decided to make 

a surprise appearance at the festival’s opening. 

He walked up to the window and bought a ticket. 

He just wanted to see what could be so 

controversial about such a festival,” Ivan tells us. 

“We were performing the show I look up, I look 

down, by Moglice-Von Verx in which the voice of 

the philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch intervenes: 

‘The attraction of nothingness, the whole game 

around the peril of death that man so likes to exalt 

dangerously – that is, that man plays at exalting 

dangerously. It’s the permanent condition of his 

existence, what makes him passionate about it.’” 2 

That night the festival also distributed ‘Gloves for 

Applause’ to its audience, wool mittens that had 

the heads of the directors of each of the reneging 

theatres printed on the palm. It seems the 

Minister had a good time since public support 

tripled the following year. 

With its miniscule budget, and even after an 

augmentation of funding, the festival has always 

been a ‘poor’ but vivacious one. Ivan knows how 

to perform miracles through a perilous exercise 

that employs the following procedure. It all starts 

out with a theme: dysfunctional families in 2008, 

Women and Circus in 2009. Far from neutral, 

these topics pique the interest of circus 

companies throughout the world who almost 

always agree to be part of the adventure. To my 

knowledge, there is no other circus festival 

curated in this way. Ivan then bends over 

backwards to fit into the mould of the politics of 

his city in order to create an opportunity, an 

opening, for the circus. He chooses each location 

in accordance with the shows and deploys his 

festival throughout Zagreb each autumn. He then 

juggles with the constraints, which are huge. He’s 

a tenacious conjurer of possibilities: locations, 

dates, money and availabilities. 

Finally, like a miracle, he materialises a project 

whose calendar and geography are never the 

2 Cathy Blisson – Télérama n° 2974 -13/01/2007 

dernier moment la mise à disposition des salles. 

« Informé du scandale, le Ministre de la Culture 

a décidé de venir à l’ouverture du festival sans 

annoncer sa venue. Il s’est présenté devant la 

caisse et a acheté son ticket. Ceci dans le but de 

vérifier par lui-même ce qu’il pouvait bien y avoir 

de si polémique dans ce festival.» raconte Ivan 

On donnait le spectacle I look up, I look down 

de Moglice Von Verx dans lequel la voix du 

philosophe Vladimir Jankélévitch donnait une 

piste : « L’attrait du néant, le jeu avec le péril 

de mort que l’homme s’amuse à exalter 

dangereusement – c’est-à-dire que l’homme joue 

à exalter dangereusement, ce qui est la condition 

permanente de son existence pour la passionner. 2 

» Le festival a fourni au public des gants avec sur 

la paume la tête des directrices de chaque théâtre 

pour applaudir. Le Ministre a manifestement 

apprécié puisque les aides ont triplé l’année 

suivante. 

D’un budget infinitésimal, le festival est resté 

pauvre, oui mais effervescent. Ivan sait faire des 

miracles dans un exercice périlleux dont voici le 

procédé. Tout repose au départ sur un thème : 

Familles dysfonctionnelles en 2008, Femmes et 

Cirque en 2009. Loin d’être des sujets anodins, ils 

attisent l’intérêt des compagnies de cirque du 

monde entier qui acceptent presque toujours de 

rejoindre l’aventure. Il n’y a pas à ma connaissance 

en Europe, d’autre curator de festival de cirque de 

ce genre. 

Ensuite Ivan se contorsionne dans le carcan de 

la politique et de sa ville pour ouvrir la brèche du 

cirque. Il choisit chaque lieu en fonction des 

spectacles et essaime tous les automnes son 

festival dans Zagreb. 

Puis il jongle avec les contraintes qui sont 

maximales, c’est un acharné de la combinaison 

des possibles : lieu, date, argent, disponibilités. 

Enfin, comme par miracle, il fait apparaître un 

projet dont le calendrier et la géographie ne sont 

jamais les mêmes. Chaque format de festival est 

2 Cathy Blisson – Télérama n° 2974 -13/01/2007 


same. Each festival reflects its topic and context. 

This was the case for the “one day, one 

conference, one film, one performance, one 

cabaret, one poster, one half-empty book, one 

museum of festival relics” festival, organised in 

2010 after a retroactive cut in public support. “So 

young and already in a museum? The Museum of 

Relics of Festival novog cirkusa, Barnum style, 

celebrates the extraordinary in the ordinary, and 

the ordinary in the extraordinary.” 3 

It’s as if Ivan knew, like Jean Genet, that “the 

reality of the Circus lies in its metamorphosis 

from dust into powdered gold.” 4 Here more than 

elsewhere, recognition is not earned through 

money. It’s something else, something difficult to 

assess and whose indicators are ethics, mutual 

trust, commitment and the ability to amaze. 

In search of a passageway between 

two worlds 

This year, the festival is dedicated to new magic. 

Its title, Chasing the Rabbit, is not as light-hearted 

as it seems. “The rabbit is most certainly not in the 

top hat anymore, but the grill is wondering 

whether it is still in the forest or will the departure 

through the rabbit hole make it completely – 

disappear.” 5 Because rabbits sleep during the day 

in the subterranean darkness and hop about at 

night, forever white beneath the Moon, they are 

perfect incarnations of the magical notions of 

appearance and disappearance. They have a 

knack for popping up where they’re not expected. 

In all of the world’s belief systems, rabbits know 

the way to secret passageways, like the famous 

rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. This passageway 

represents the mysterious relationship between 

life and death. In The Big White Rabbit by 

contemporary Croatian author Ivan Vidic, 6 the 

rabbit emerges from a bush in the middle of a 

military parade, symbolising the underground 

power of revolution in the face of order. So it’s no 

coincidence if the rabbit has been chosen as the 

symbol of this 2012 festival, where new magic 

and new circus have, in theory, decided to leave 

3 http://www.cirkus.hr/ 

4 Le Funambule, Jean Genet, édition L’Arbalète, France 1958 

5 Introduction, festival programme, Ivan Kralj, Croatia 2012 

6 Une parade de cirque – Anthologie des écritures théâtrales 

contemporaines de Croatie, under the direction of Nataša 

Govedić, Editions l’Espace d’un Instant, France/Croatia 2012 

le miroir du sujet et du contexte. Comme ce 

festival d’ « un jour, une conférence, un film, une 

performance, un cabaret, un poster, un livre à 

moitié vide, un musée des reliques du festival » 

organisé en 2010 en raison d’une baisse 

rétroactive des aides publiques. « So young and 

already in a museum? « The Museum of Relics of 

Festival novog cirkusa, Barnum style, celebrates 

the extraordinary in ordinary, and the ordinary in 

extraordinary 3 . » 

On dirait qu’Ivan comme Jean Genet sait que 

« la réalité du Cirque tient dans cette métamorphose 

de la poussière en poudre d’or » 4 . La 

reconnaissance ici plus qu’ailleurs ne passe pas 

par l’argent. Il s’agit d’autre chose. Une chose 

difficile à évaluer et dont les indicateurs seraient 

l’éthique, la confiance mutuelle, l’engagement, la 

capacité d’émerveillement. 

À la recherche du passage entre deux 

mondes 

Cette année, le festival est dédié à la Magie 

Nouvelle. Son titre Chasing the Rabbit est moins 

léger qu’il n’en a l’air. « The rabbit is most certainly 

not in the top hat anymore, but the grill is 

wondering whether it is still in the forest or will 

the departure through the rabbit hole make it 

completely – disappear. 5 » Parce que les lapins 

dorment le jour dans l’obscurité sous la terre et 

gambadent la nuit éternellement blancs sous 

la Lune, ils incarnent parfaitement les notions 

magiques d’apparition et de disparition. Ayant 

le don d’apparaître là où on ne les attend pas, 

dans toutes les croyances du monde, les lapins 

auraient connaissance de passages secrets, 

comme le célèbre lapin d’Alice au Pays des 

Merveilles. Ce passage incarne le mystère de la 

relation entre la vie et la mort. Dans la littérature 

croate contemporaine, le Grand Lapin blanc d’Ivan 

Vidic 6 , surgissant d’un buisson pendant un défilé 

militaire, symbolise le pouvoir souterrain de la 

révolution face à l’ordre. Ce n’est donc pas rien 

d’avoir placé le lapin comme emblème de ce 

festival 2012 où magie nouvelle et cirque 

3 http://www.cirkus.hr/ 

4 Le Funambule, Jean Genet, édition L’Arbalète, France 1958 

5 Introduction, programme du festival, Ivan Kralj, Croatie 2012 

6 Une parade de cirque – Anthologie des écritures théâtrales 

contemporaines de Croatie, sous la direction de Nataša Govedić, 

Editions l’Espace d’un Instant, France/Croatie 2012 


Victoria Chaplin & Jean-Baptiste Thierrée – Le Cirque Invisible © nn 

their animals behind. Ivan speaks of a grill 

threatening this magical animal and his 

mysterious, almost archaic power, an animal that 

could very well disappear forever below ground. 

This eighth edition does have something furtive 

in itself. Its catalogue is a magical book whose 

pages are emptied or filled with bodily contact. 

Organised in three separate episodes (October, 

November, December), agendas appear and 

disappear. Shuttles transport the public to events 

in peripheral neighbourhoods: to the Scena 

Travno, a former puppet theatre in new Zagreb, 

or to the renovated factories of Pogon (Zagreb 

Centre for Independent Culture and Youth), a 

hybrid cultural institution (half public, half private) 

that was created in 2005 and now proudly 

defends its independence. 

“For the official opening, we’ve decided to pirate 

the guest appearance of Le Cirque Invisible in 

Murska Sobota, a Slovenian town of 11,679 

inhabitants. Zagreb’s millions and Croatia’s 

millions can afford such a performance only if 

the minister’s favourite festival purchases the 

nouveau se veulent en théorie détachés des 

animaux. Ivan parle d’un grill menaçant cet animal 

magique et au pouvoir mystérieux quasi 

archaïque et qui pourrait bien disparaître à 

jamais sous terre. 

Cette huitième édition a en effet quelque chose 

de furtif. Son catalogue est un livre magique dont 

les pages se vident ou se remplissent au contact 

corporel. Réparti en trois épisodes distincts 

(octobre, novembre, décembre), il apparaît et 

disparaît des agendas. Des navettes vous 

transportent en soirée dans des quartiers 

excentrés : au Scena Travno, ancien théâtre de 

marionnettes dans le nouveau Zagreb, ou dans 

les usines réhabilitées du Pogon (Zagreb Centre 

for Independent Culture and Youth), institution 

culturelle hybride (semi-privée, semi-publique), 

créée en 2005 et fièrement attachée à son 

indépendance. 

« For the official opening we’ve decided to pirate 

the guest appearance of Le Cirque Invisible in 

Murska Sobota, a Slovenian town of 11.679 

inhabitants. Zagreb’s million and Croatia’s millions 


Slovenian auditorium, proclaims the show for its 

own, rents buses and takes the audience to the 

art.” 7 Three hours one way, three hours back, and 

two interminable customs checks at the border of 

Croatia and Slovenia, which is also an entryway 

into the Schengen area. For Victoria Chaplin and 

Jean-Baptiste Thierrée, it’s worth the trouble. 

What’s more, there’s a very large rabbit on hand! 

Their Cirque Invisible is the oldest of the new 

circuses. This unlikely couple have been 

rehearsing the same numbers for thirty years, 

perfecting this, the one show of their lives. To 

think that these two were in The Clowns, by Fellini, 

which lamented the death of the circus in 1970! 

We won’t find out much about them. They don’t 

give interviews, and have left no trace other than 

the story of their first encounter. Contortionist, 

one-woman-band, tightrope walker, acrobat, 

balance artist and quick-changer, at 61 years of 

age, Victoria gets a little closer each day to that 

death she has always teased but never cheated. 

Behind this glimpse of eternity there is discipline 

and rehearsal. Here, the magic is in making you 

believe that we’re at the circus when in fact we’re 

at the theatre. Jean-Baptiste can show us failed 

tricks again and again and openly deceive the eye, 

but we are nonetheless in awe. Their magic is as 

old as childhood. Children reproduce the outside 

world on their own scale with puppets, conjuring 

up their worries and taking control of these 

miniature beings. Victoria and Jean-Baptiste are 

like two big children taking us through their world. 

In a similar spirit, the Italian, Belgian and 

European Claudio Stellato began work on L’Autre 

in 2008 with no other goal than to allow the 

project to simply unfurl. He says that he has let 

the story tell itself, let the string unwind, starting 

out with the vision of a carpet that unfolds itself. 

He has worked like a craftsman, starting simply 

with planks of wood and human encounters. He 

was trained as a dancer, but he doesn’t dance in 

this performance. When one sees him walking 

along the wood, one can’t help but think of the 

Italian origin of the word saltimbanque 

(entertainer): saltare in banco (jumping on a 

platform). 

7 Introduction, festival programme, Ivan Kralj, Croatia 2012 

can afford such a performance only if the minister’s 

favourite festival purchases the Slovenian 

auditorium, proclaims the show for its own, rents 

buses and takes the audience to the art. 7 » Trois 

heures à l’aller, trois heures au retour, et deux 

arrêts interminables à la douane de la frontière 

croato-slovène qui est aussi une porte : celle de 

l’espace Schengen. Pour Victoria Chaplin et Jean- 

Baptiste Thierrée, le jeu en vaut la chandelle. De 

plus, un très gros lapin répond présent ! Leur 

Cirque Invisible est le plus ancien des cirques 

nouveaux. Cela fait plus de trente ans que ce 

couple improbable répète les mêmes numéros, 

perfectionne l’unique spectacle de leur vie. Et dire 

que ces deux-là étaient dans Les Clowns de Fellini, 

qui pleurait la mort du cirque en 1970. On ne saura 

jamais trop sur eux. Pas d’interview, nulle autre 

trace que l’histoire de leur rencontre originelle. 

Contorsionniste, femme-orchestre, funambule, 

acrobate, équilibriste, transformiste, à 61 ans, 

Victoria se rapproche chaque jour un peu plus de la 

mort avec laquelle elle a toujours joué sans tricher. 

Derrière cet instant d’éternité, la discipline et la 

répétition. Ici la magie, c’est de faire croire que le 

cirque est là alors qu’on est au théâtre. Jean- 

Baptiste a beau nous montrer des tours ratés, 

nous tromper l’œil ouvertement. On reste 

émerveillé. Cette magie-là est aussi vieille que la 

notion d’enfance. Avec les poupées, les enfants 

reproduisent le monde extérieur à leur échelle pour 

conjurer leurs angoisses en prenant le contrôle sur 

ces êtres miniatures. Victoria et Jean-Baptiste 

sont comme deux vieux enfants qui nous font 

passer dans leur monde. 

Dans un état d’esprit semblable, Claudio Stellato, 

italien belge européen, a commencé le projet de 

l’Autre en 2008 sans autre motivation que la 

confiance dans son propre déroulement. Il dit 

avoir laissé l’histoire se raconter, le fil se dérouler, 

à partir de la vision originelle d’un tapis qui se 

déplie tout seul. Il a travaillé comme un artisan, 

à partir de planches et de rencontres humaines. 

Au contraire de sa formation de danseur, ici il ne 

danse pas. Lorsqu’on le voit marcher sur le bois, 

on ne peut s’empêcher de penser à l’origine 

italienne du mot saltimbanque : saltare in banco 

(sauter sur une estrade). 

7 Introduction, programme du festival, Ivan Kralj, Croatie 2012 


Officially, there are two types of entertainers. 

The first kind takes the risk of living an entirely 

different life, trying to go beyond the human 

condition, to serve as a sign. Magic is therefore 

used to evoke something other than magic. 

This procedure is connected with the ritual aspect 

of the circus. In ancient Greece, men and divinities 

lived in the same world but could not 

communicate. Magical thinking, acrobatics, 

games, music and dance were all ways to come 

into contact with invisible things. They were a way 

to create a passageway, as are the works of 

Cirque Invisible and Stellato. 

The other kind of entertainer exploits people’s 

gullibility with magic tricks. This approach links up 

with the darker yet equally fascinating side of 

magic and the circus. Let’s remember that 

Barnum was just as much the inventor of the 

travelling circus as he was of publicity at the turn 

of the twentieth century. This charlatan who 

transformed travelling theatre into a fairground 

attraction was able to manipulate entire crowds 

yearning to be enchanted. When manipulation 

itself becomes the goal, one must admit that 

it’s not the magic at work. In Zagreb there was 

a representative of the “new magic” movement 

in France, Rafael Navarro. He is the magician 

working in the wings of Vibrations, the show by 

his company 14:20. His theories and the video 

excerpts online are very enticing. And yet, after 

experiencing a short 7-minute episode executed 

by François Chat, I was left cold. There was no 

aura. The artifice caught all of our attention: 

a fishing line. And here’s the impasse. 

Emergency exit 

Let’s return to this possible end of the world and 

rather hope for the end of the black-and-white 

world that opposes merchants of the temple of 

culture and missionaries of the dignity of art. This 

dualist vision is like the Big Bang. It’s a sure 

disequilibrium for those who take the risk of living 

their projects and for those who don’t. Next year, 

will Ivan be able to transform the end of the world 

into a passageway to a new era? Will we find the 

way out? 

Officiellement, il existe deux sortes de 

saltimbanques. Une première catégorie prend 

le risque de vivre une vie totalement autre, pour 

tenter de dépasser la condition humaine et faire 

signe. La magie est alors utilisée pour évoquer 

autre chose que la magie. Cette démarche renoue 

avec l’aspect rituel du cirque. Dans la Grèce 

antique, les hommes et les divinités vivaient dans 

le même monde sans pouvoir communiquer. 

La pensée magique, les acrobaties, les jeux, 

la musique et la danse, étaient des moyens 

d’entrer en contact avec les choses invisibles. 

Une manière de créer un passage comme le font 

le Cirque Invisible et Stellato. 

L’autre catégorie abuse de la crédulité des gens 

par des tours de magie. Cette démarche renoue 

avec la part obscure et tout aussi fascinante de 

la magie et du cirque. Rappelons que Barnum fut 

autant l’inventeur du cirque itinérant que de la 

publicité au tournant du 20 ème siècle. Ce charlatan 

qui a métamorphosé le théâtre ambulant en 

attraction foraine a su manipuler des foules 

entières, avides d’enchantement. Quand l’objectif 

devient la manipulation elle-même, il faut bien 

reconnaître que la magie n’opère pas. A Zagreb, 

il y avait le représentant d’un mouvement de 

« magie nouvelle » en France, Rafael Navarro. Il 

est le magicien derrière les coulisses du spectacle 

Vibrations de sa compagnie 14:20. Ses théories et 

les extraits vidéo sur Internet sont très attractifs. 

Pourtant, en vivant un court épisode de 7 minutes 

exécuté par François Chat, je suis tombée des 

nues. Il n’y avait pas d’aura. L’artifice capturait 

toute l’attention : un fil de pêche. Impasse. 

Sortie de secours 

Revenons à l’éventuelle fin du monde. Souhaitons 

plutôt la fin d’un monde en noir et blanc qui oppose 

les marchands du temple de la culture aux 

missionnaires pour la dignité de l’art. Cette vision 

dualiste, c’est le Big Bang. C’est le déséquilibre 

assuré pour ceux qui prennent le risque de vivre 

leurs projets comme pour ceux qui ne les vivent 

pas. L’année prochaine Ivan saura-t-il transformer la 

fin du monde en un passage vers une nouvelle ère ? 

Et nous : trouverons-nous la sortie de secours ? 


From Le Cirque 

Invisible to today 

and back 

R O L A N D V E R M E Y L E N 

Since 2005, Zagreb has hosted the annual 

contemporary circus festival Festival novog 

cirkusa, yet there have not been many Croatian 

circus companies in recent years, and current 

legislation is not exactly friendly towards 

travelling circuses. Therefore, I was curious about 

this ‘festival of new circus’. 

Along with ten European journalists, I attended 

the second part of Festival novog cirkusa and 

compared notes with Ivan Kralj, the Croatian 

director of the festival, with the presenting artists, 

and with several circus theorists, mainly from 

HorsLesMurs and Circostrada (France). It was 

inspiring and improving to debate the circus 

scene, and to try and discover the words to 

express it after we attended and reflected on 

four circus productions. 

Until the 1960s, western circus was almost 

entirely in the hands of circus families. Children 

born into such families were predestined from 

birth. Expectations were clear-cut and narrowly 

focused; roles and learning processes were welldefined. 

People lived and learned by observing 

and then – sooner rather than later – by trying 

things out themselves to discover which specific 

talents they should develop. Writing, reading, 

theoretical education and verbal analysis were 

bourgeois and absolutely forbidden. 

In the early 70s, the first western, independent 

circus artists started to emerge. The first French 

circus schools were founded by Pierre Etaix, Annie 

Fratellini, Silvia Monfort and Alexis Gruss. In 

Germany, Circus Roncalli was founded (1976), 

followed by Big Apple Circus in the United States 

(1977), which would become the instituter and 

the home of the Clown Doctors (Cliniclowns). In 

Switzerland, Victoria Chaplin wished to translate 

Van Le Cirque 

Invisible naar nu 

en terug 

R O L A N D V E R M E Y L E N 

Sinds 2005 loopt elk jaar in Zagreb het festival 

“Nieuw circus”. Kroatië heeft al een tijdje geen 

eigen circus meer en ook de recente wetgeving is 

weinig vriendelijk voor rondtrekkende circussen. 

We waren dus benieuwd hoe dit “festival van 

nieuw circus” wel zou kunnen zijn. 

Samen met tien Europese journalisten volgden 

we het tweede deel van dit festival en we 

wisselden onze beelden en inzichten uit met de 

Kroatische festivalleider Ivan Kralj, de artiesten en 

enkele circustheoretici die vooral uit het Franse 

Hors les Murs en Circostrada kwamen. Het was 

boeiend om het circusveld scherper te kunnen 

verwoorden na het gezamenlijk beleven van een 

viertal circusproducties. Vooral het samen kunnen 

reflecteren was verrijkend. 

Tot in de zestiger jaren is het Westers circus bijna 

helemaal in handen van circusfamilies. Je wordt 

als circuskind geboren en je wordt zo van bij de 

geboorte voorbestemd. De verwachtingen tussen 

ouders en kinderen zijn heel helder en gefocust. 

De rollen en de leerprocessen zijn duidelijk. Je 

leert en leeft door observatie en dan snel – zonder 

veel uitstellen – het zelf te “doen” en zo te 

ondervinden waar precies je talenten liggen. 

Schrijven, lezen, theoretisch leren en reflecteren 

met woorden zijn uit den boze en horen bij de 

burgerwereld. 

Begin zeventiger jaren komen dan de eerste nietfamilie 

gebonden, Westerse circusartiesten. 

De eerste Franse circusscholen onder leiding van 

Pierre Etaix, Annie Fratellini, Sylvia Monfort en 

Alexis Gruss worden opgericht. In Duitsland 

ontstaat Circus Roncalli (1976) en in de 

Verenigde Staten start Big Apple Circus (1977) 

dat de stichter en ook de bakermat zou worden 

voor de cliniclowns. In Zwitserland wou Victoria 

ROLAND VERMEYLEN 51

her father Charlie’s love for the Swiss Circus Knie 

into a circus of her own, while the French theatremaker 

Jean-Baptiste Thierrée shared the same 

passion; they established Cirque Bonjour in 1971. 

Together with their children Aurélia and James 

Thierrée, they developed this into Cirque 

Imaginaire. After the children left home to pursue 

their own careers (very successfully!) their circus 

evolved to become Cirque Invisible in 1990. 

During the 80s, more and more actors arrived at 

the international circus scene. Pierre Bidon, with 

Archaos, and Cirque Plume were French pioneers 

in theatre-circus. In Switzerland, the Muntwyler 

family fostered their innovative Circus Monti, and 

in Canada Cirque du Soleil was founded in 1984. 

They all wished to breathe new life into circus. 

In 2012, at Festival novog cirkusa, Mr and Mrs 

Thierrée-Chaplin have been programmed with 

their now over 20 years old Cirque Invisible, a 

tribute to their historic, successful compulsion to 

innovate. Cirque Invisible revives the feel of the 

classic circus – a series of disconnected acts, and 

a respectful way of working with animals – in a 

lively spectacle threading a sanguine story 

through scenes of transformation, magic and 

clowning. They bring two archetypes: the wise, 

perspectivist old clown next to a rigorous, 

excelling, inquisitive woman. Their enduring love 

story eventually unites all. It is a classic show that 

meets expectations – in a direct, classic style it 

brings surprise and optimism. Cirque Invisible is 

beautifully ageless and therefore fascinating. 

The audience was clearly and unanimously very 

satisfied. And one could see how husband and 

wife have translated their pioneering spirit into an 

enduring, clever, sustainable and shared form of 

work and performance. In their artistic process, 

script and production have grown more important 

over time. 

Ivan Kralj, 33 and director of the festival, looks at 

me with wide eyes. “I try to offer the audience 

what I see in the circus world. I choose the 

festival’s theme from inside the scene. This year, 

new magic is a leitmotif, while another magical 

production was programmed to conclude our first 

festival eight years ago. This is how we close the 

circle. I want to connect many styles and 

Chaplin de liefde van vader Charlie voor het 

Zwitserse Circus Knie zelf vertalen in een heel 

eigen circus. De Franse toneelmaker Jean 

Baptiste Thierrée voelt dezelfde passie en zo 

ontstaat in 1971 hun Cirque Bonheur. Samen met 

hun kinderen Aurélia en James Thierrée wordt het 

hun Cirque Imaginaire en toen de kinderen het 

ouderlijk nest verlaten voor hun eigen, overigens 

erg succesvolle, carrière, wordt het in 1990 hun 

Cirque Imaginaire. 

In de tachtiger jaren komen daarnaast steeds meer 

nieuwe spelers op het internationale circusveld. 

Pierre Bidon met Archaos en Cirque Plume waren 

Franse pioniers voor meer theatercircus. In 

Zwitserland bouwt de familie Muntwyler gestaag 

aan hun vernieuwend circus Monti en in Canada 

ziet in 1984 Cirque du Soleil het daglicht. Zij willen 

het circus opnieuw uitvinden. 

Het echtpaar Thierrée-Chaplin is dit jaar, ook al is 

het meer dan twintig jaar trekkend met deze show, 

geprogrammeerd. Het programmeren van hun 

Cirque Invisible is dus meer een hommage aan hun 

historische, succesvolle vernieuwings drang. Hun 

show gaat nog steeds terug naar het klassieke 

circus: een reeks acts zonder écht verhaal, 

respectvol samenwerken met dieren, en een vrolijk 

spektakel waar de vermenging van transformatie, 

magie en clownerie een optimistisch, eindeloos 

verhaal aan elkaar rijgt. Je ziet er twee archetypes 

naast elkaar: de wijze, zichzelf relatieverende, oude 

clown naast de strengere, excellerende, immer 

zoekende vrouw. Hun duurzaam liefdesverhaal 

verbindt dan uiteindelijk alles aan elkaar. Het is 

klassiek circus dat brengt wat je ervan verwacht. 

Directief en volgens de regels van de kunst. Het 

geeft verwondering en optimisme. Sterk is het 

tijdloze van hun Invisible. Dat maakt het ook zo 

boeiend. Er was een duidelijke consensus bij het 

heel tevreden publiek. En je ziet ook hoe het 

echtpaar hun pioniersdynamiek heeft kunnen 

vertalen in een blijvend, slim en gedragen, 

alledaags werken en optreden. Hun “emergingcreatief” 

proces is weer meer script en 

productiegebonden geworden. 

De nu 33 jarige festivalleider Ivan Kralj kijkt me 

aan met heel open ogen. “Ik probeer te brengen 

wat ik zie op de circusscène. Zo kies ik elk jaar een 

ROLAND VERMEYLEN 52

cooperate with the artists in a friendly way. Also, 

I attempt to get to know the audience. Not their 

expectations but rather their motivations and 

the origin of their interest in my singular definition 

of ‘new circus’. Now I know the audience mainly 

consists of young women who brought their 

partners along, who don’t attend theatre or dance 

performances. So, it seems like our audience is 

a very particular group that remains loyal to our 

festival. This can also apply to the sponsors of 

our festival, who are, above all, small and many.” 

Ivan enjoys making statements. “In the whole 

of Zagreb, there is not a single theatre that 

can accommodate Cirque Invisible. We had to 

organise bus rides from Zagreb to the small 

Slovenian village of Murska Sobota, population 

10,000. I have a clear message, and being 

a young person, I tend to clash with the 

Establishment. In the end, I try to deliver my 

message and arrange the programme with the 

help of humour and creative solutions. Every 

setback makes me more creative, and the 

audience follows me.” 

Apart from the show by two of the pioneers 

of new circus, we also watched two purely 

experimental performances exploring ‘new 

magic’: Gravitation by the French Compagnie 

14.20, headed by Raphaël Navarro and Clément 

Debailleul, and Nopeussokeus (Speed Blindness) 

by the Finnish artist Kalle Hakkarainen. The 

storyline in these performances focused on one 

topic repetitiously. In Gravitation, the French 

juggler François Chat dances with a wooden cane, 

bringing everything to life. In Speed Blindness, 

Kalle unites film projection with live action. We 

witness his experiences during a car accident, 

when several foreign objects enter the driver’s 

body. Kalle aimed at expressing the way in which 

people who fall victim to accidents tend to 

experience the event as though in a film. Naturally, 

the use of physical expression and projected 

imagery was an obvious choice for the staging. 

Kalle, being both a magician and a video artist, 

made use of an open space. Comparing the two 

productions integrating film imagery, Kalle’s was 

the most successful. In a conversation with both 

companies, it became clear that the shows were 

quite experimental. Both were still searching for 

thema van binnenuit. Dit jaar staat de nieuwe 

magie op het programma. En op het einde van het 

eerste festival stond ook een magieproductie. Zo 

sluiten we dit jaar de cirkel en wil ik met heel open 

vizier kijken waar we nu staan. Ik wil vele stijlen 

verbinden. Ook met de artiesten wil ik in een 

vriendschappelijke relatie samenwerken. Ik 

probeer ook goed mijn publiek te kennen. Niet 

zozeer hun verwachtingen maar eerder wie ze zijn 

en van waar komt nu hun interesse voor mijn 

eigenzinnige definitie van “nieuw circus”. Zo weet 

ik dat het vooral jonge vrouwen zijn die vaak hun 

partners meebrengen. Ze gaan niet naar theater 

of dansvoorstellingen. Het is dus een heel 

bepaalde en vooral kleine niche die naar hier komt 

en ons festival trouw blijft. Dit geldt ook voor de 

sponsoring waar het vooral vele, kleine sponsoren 

zijn die ons festival mee maken.” 

Ivan houdt ook van statements maken. “In heel 

Zagreb is er geen enkele theaterzaal die deze 

Cirque Invisible kan huisvesten. We moeten 

daarvoor naar het kleine Sloveense stadje Murska 

Sobota met zijn tienduizend inwoners. We 

hebben dus bussen van het grote Zagreb ingelegd 

naar dit kleine stadje. Mijn boodschap is duidelijk. 

Als jongere bots ik vaak met sommige gevestigde 

structuren. Ik probeer met humor en creatieve 

oplossingen mijn boodschap én programmering 

toch rond te maken. Alle obstakels maken me 

creatiever én mijn publiek volgt me.” 

Naast een van de “oudste”pioniers van nieuw 

circus zagen we ook twee puur experimentele 

performanties die passen in de zoektocht naar 

nieuwe magie: Gravitation van het Franse 

collectief 14.20 met Raphael Navarro en Clément 

Debailleul als échte pionniers én daarnaast 

Nopeussokeus (Fins voor Speed blindness) van de 

Fin Kalle Hakkainen. Nu krijgen we wel telkens een 

verhaal dat repetitief op één thema doorgaat. Bij 

Gravitation zie je hoe de Franse jongleur François 

Chat met zijn houten stok danst en het geheel tot 

leven brengt. In Speed blindness vermengt Kalle 

filmbeelden met life expressions. We zien zijn 

belevingswereld wanneer een auto en zijn 

chauffeur in een ongeval terechtkomen en allerlei 

vreemde objecten het lichaam van de chauffeur 

binnendringen. Kalle wou expressie geven van hoe 

slachtoffers bij een ongeval vaak het gebeuren net 

ROLAND VERMEYLEN 53


the right techniques and methods, both were 

experimenting; any underlying emotional motive 

I must have overlooked. Over the years, these 

techniques will further evolve, making both 

productions, oddly enough, already outdated. 

Anyway, Cirque du Soleil has already further 

explored the use of magical pictures and special 

effects in their Las Vegas circus production Ka 

(2004) by Robert Lepage. Still, these are 

intriguing experiments that can stimulate and 

bring innovation to the circus arts. 

Another production at Festival novog cirkusa was 

L’Autre by the Italian Claudio Stellato and his 

Belgian collaborator Martin Firket. Claudio 

embraces the traditional view that circus is a way 

of life. It is mainly trying, doing, physicality; it is 

non-verbal and is a personal journey undertaken 

with an audience. 

als op een film meevolgen. De link tussen 

lichaamsexpressie en filmbeelden lag dus voor de 

hand. Kalle als magician én videoartiest kon hierbij 

een heel open ruimte gebruiken. Van de twee 

producties die videobeelden gebruikten was deze 

met de Fin Kalle het meest geslaagd. Bij het 

doorvragen van de twee productiegroepen bleek 

hoe experimenteel het geheel wel was. Ze waren 

beiden nog volop aan het uitzoeken wat hun 

nieuwere technieken nu wel goed kon ondersteunen. 

Het bleef wel experimenteel en de 

emotionele boodschap bleef voor mij ondergesneeuwd. 

De komende jaren zullen deze 

technieken steeds verder evolueren zodat deze 

twee producties nu reeds, hoe vreemd ook, écht 

gedateerd zijn. Overigens is Cirque du Soleil in zijn 

Las Vegas productie Ka (2004) van filmmaker 

Robert Lepage al veel verder gegaan met het 

gebruik van magische filmbeelden en effecten in 

een ruimere circusproductie. Maar het blijven 

interessante experimenten die op hun beurt 

vernieuwende impulsen aan de circuskunst 

kunnen geven. 

Naast deze twee experimentele producties kwam 

L’Autre met de Italiaan Claudio Stellato en zijn 

Belgische partner Martin Firket. Claudio sluit aan 

bij het eeuwenoud gegeven dat circus een 

levenswijze is. Circus is vooral doen, uitproberen, 

lichamelijk-niet verbaal, een groeiproces met 

publiek. Circus is al heel lang een lerend systeem 

dat circusmensen reeds toepasten lang voor het 

wetenschappelijk gedefinieerde begrip lerende 

organisatie werd uitgevonden. 

Claudio: ”Ik voel me dichtst bij de circuswereld. 

Daar is vaak een heel goede ambiance waar we 

elkaar goed en complexloos kunnen ontmoeten. 

De danswereld is toch zo droog, serieus en heel 

apart op zichzelf betrokken. Laat ons toch nederig 

blijven, het gaat toch maar over een performantie. 

Ik ben méér een paljazzo, een clown. Ik heb geen 

techniek op zich. Ik vertrek van mijn eigen research 

die ik in vele situaties en met verscheiden groepen 

continu toets. Ik bouw zo gedurende drie jaar mijn 

verhaal op.” Hij is gefascineerd door één thema: 

het ontmoeten van andere mensen. Drie jaar lang 

bouwde hij aan zijn expressie van dit wonderlijk 

levend gebeuren.Hij zoekt het vooral in bijna 

dansend bewegen met objekten, met en in een 

ROLAND VERMEYLEN 54

Claudio: “I feel closest to the circus world. Often, 

there is an excellent atmosphere where we can 

meet each other without any restraint. Dance is 

often very dry, serious and concerned with its 

own world. Let’s remain modest; it’s just a 

performance. I am more of a paljazzo, a clown; 

I don’t have techniques as such. I start from my 

own research, which I reflect upon in many 

situations and different contexts. After three 

years, a story is complete.” 

Claudio is fascinated by one theme: meeting 

other people. For three years, he has built an 

expression of this miraculous existence. In L’Autre 

he mainly works with the dancing movement of 

objects, performing with and inside of two 

wooden wardrobes – one big, one smaller. His 

magic is unpredictable, thus encouraging 

constant amazement. Long after leaving the 

theatre, the performance keeps glowing in our 

memories, as does our meeting with Claudio. 

L’Autre is not quite your average circus. It is visual 

art. Like Kalle, Claudio would not be boxed into 

one niche. “I investigate things and subjects with 

my body,” Claudio concludes. 

The festival in Zagreb was refreshing. We met 

new forms of magic there. 

The festival can be seen as a ‘teaser’, a taster for 

the different innovations of the circus scene and 

magic in particular. By programming Cirque 

Invisible, the festival offered an anchor for the 

audience that helps contextualise magic and 

circus as a whole and makes it more tangible and 

specific. With its constant renewals the festival 

in Zagreb continues to appeal to a particular 

audience of adepts and innovators, making it an 

enthralling thing to discover and experience with 

my colleagues. 

However, the somewhat arrogant description of 

the festival as dedicated exclusively to new circus 

may alert us to pitfalls. In the 1860s, the term 

‘nouveau cirque’ was used as an insignia as well. 

Now it is being used in an ideology, with the 

corresponding indoctrinations and even 

intimidations included. Today, intellectuals wish 

to define what types of circus are real. Above all, 

they want to award the highest creativity to their 

‘cirque contemporain’. They determine who is 

kleine én grote kast. Zijn magie is helemaal niet 

te voorspellen en zorgt zo voor een blijvende 

verwondering. Lang nadat we de zaal hebben 

verlaten, zindert de voorstelling nog na. Ook onze 

ontmoeting met Claudio tijdens het persgesprek 

laat zo lang zijn sporen na. Ik heb het er moeilijk 

mee om L’autre van Stellato circus te noemen. Het 

is visuele bewegingskunst. Net als de Fin Kalle wil 

hij niet precies in een vast kader worden ondergedompeld. 

“Ik probeer dingen en een thema uit 

met mijn lichaam”, zo besluit Claudio zijn verhaal. 

Zagreb bracht ons een verrassend festival. We 

kwamen in aanraking met nieuwe magievormen. 

Het festival is een soort “teaser”, een soort proeven 

aan vernieuwingen in het hele circusveld en in de 

magie in het bijzonder. Door le Cirque Invisible te 

programmeren reikt het festival de bezoeker een 

soort anker als meetmoment aan. De vraag waar 

we veertig jaar later nu staan met magie en breder 

nog circus, wordt daardoor concreter, specifieker 

en vooral tastbaarder. Daardoor blijft het Zagreb 

festival een heel klein publiek aanspreken van 

ingewijden en zoekers naar vernieuwingen. Op zich 

helemaal niet erg en vooral boeiend om dat met 

collegae te ontdekken en te beleven. 

Maar de toch arrogante titel van exclusief nieuw 

hedendaags circus maakt ook de valkuilen 

bewuster. In de jaren 1860 werd het begrip 

“nouveau cirque” ook reeds als uitgangsbord 

gebruikt. Nu wordt het gehanteerd als een soort 

ideologie met alle indoctrinaties en zelfs 

intimidaties van dienst erbij. Intellectuelen buiten 

de circuskunst willen nu bepalen wat écht circus 

is en wat niet. Ze willen vooral het creatiefbovendrijvende 

als nieuwe kracht zien voor hun 

“cirque contemporain”. Zij bepalen wie waardig is 

om binnen hun normen voor vol te worden 

aanzien. Maar op die manier worden ze weer even 

dwingend directief en strikt script en regelgebonden 

als het klassiek circus in de zestiger 

jaren. Op die manier sluit de cirkel zich weer. 

De groepen die we in Zagreb aan het werk zagen, 

waren evenzeer door het nomadisme aan 

getrokken als de meest fervente circuspatriarch. 

Het rebelse, het willen deviant zijn, het zorgen 

voor een heel eigen context,het willen overleven 

en toch authentiek zichzelf worden zit evenzeer 

bij deze artiesten. 

ROLAND VERMEYLEN 55

worthy of appreciation within their standards. This 

makes them as peremptory, strict and regulated 

as classic circus in the 60s. The circle is closed. 

The companies performing in Zagreb were as 

drawn to nomadism as the most ardent circus 

patriarch. The rebellion, defiance, lack of 

compromise and authenticity found in the classic 

circus are also common traits among all these 

artists. 

The general public looks for associations and 

affinities, and, by explicitly untying artists from 

their past, continuity is broken in some ways and 

expectations are altered. Also, circus in a broad 

sense means show business. In contemporary 

circus the economic imperative is largely reduced, 

taken care of by sponsors and subsidies provided 

that a new, considerable audience is mustered. 

That economic pressure can feed real creativity is 

ever proven by many contemporary circuses like 

Monti from Switzerland. The audience expects 

innovation linked with the past, and needs to be 

part of this transformation. 

‘New circus’ is too vague a concept. In my eyes, it 

is a never-ending swing between classic and 

innovative. In all movements, there is good and 

plainly bad circus. In Zagreb, we twice saw good 

circus and twice purely experimental circus. It was 

not clear whether the audience was prepared for 

this or not, this year and in the past, and may 

therefore have been somewhat disappointed or 

may have left with a number of unfulfilled 

expectations, or remained absent altogether… 

Classic circus usually does successful marketing 

and attracts big audiences. Since there is no 

longer a Croatian circus, expectations may have 

become vague and muddled. For the festival, 

there now is a pedagogical and marketing 

challenge ahead of them in selling contemporary 

circus and winning it a place in the arts market. 

The festival’s habit of introducing yearly themes, 

‘new magic’ for example, is very newsworthy but 

does not seem to draw a packed audience. All this 

in spite of the organisers’ and artists’ efforts. This 

year’s programme deserved a bigger turnout. In 

order to overcome these shortcomings, one 

needs to feel open and generous and to consult 

Het grote publiek wil deze associaties en 

verbindingen blijven waarnemen. Door een zeer 

expliciet stellen van het anders-zijn van deze 

artiesten wordt de continuiteit deels verbroken. 

De verwachtingen liggen anders. Daarnaast is 

circus is ook in de meest ruime zin van het woord 

“showbusiness”. Het economische is hier erg ver 

uitgewist en ondergesneeuwd. Sponsoring plus 

subsidies moeten dit opvangen. Maar deze 

laatsten blijven maar komen als er een nieuw, 

groot publiek ontstaat. En in die begrenzing door 

het economische kan ook échte creativiteit tot 

standkomen. Dat bewijzen andere hedendaagse 

circussen zoals het Zwitserse Monti elk jaar 

opnieuw. Het publiek wil bij veranderingen dus 

ook de link met het vroegere zien naast nieuwe 

ideeën en veranderingen. Het publiek dient mee 

betrokken te worden in deze transformatie. 

Nieuw circus is een te vaag begrip. Eigenlijk is het 

een dooddoener en een competitie uitlokkend 

verhaal. Het is voor mij een eeuwige slinger 

tussen klassiek en vernieuwend. En in alle 

bewegingen heb je goed en ronduit slecht circus. 

In Zagreb zagen we twee maal goed circus en 

tweemaal pure experimenten. Het was voor mij 

niet duidelijk of het publiek dit op voorhand wist. 

Of ook niet wist in de voorbije jaren en zo, wellicht 

wat teleurgesteld en met blijvende, onvervulde 

honger, niet meer op het jaarlijks appèl komt….. 

Klassiek circus is sterk in marketing en in het 

bewegen van het grote publiek naar de tent. Door 

het wegvallen van eigen Kroatisch circus zijn 

waarschijnlijk de verwachtingen in Kroatië rond 

circus heel vaag en onduidelijk geworden. Wellicht 

zit er voor het festival en zijn aansluitend 

circuscentrum nu een pedagogische – en 

marketingopdracht om hedendaags circus 

opnieuw te verkopen en zo zijn verdiende plaats 

op de kunstmarkt te geven…. 

Het bespelen van een jaarthema, als dit jaar de 

nieuwe magie, heeft heel wat nieuwswaarde. 

Maar dit is blijkbaar niet voldoende om voldoende 

publiek uit zijn zetel te lokken… En daarvoor doen 

én organisatoren én artiesten toch al deze 

inspanningen. Het programma verdiende veel 

meer publiek dan wat er was….. Om die tekorten 

effectief te kunnen corrigeren, is een open geest 

en generositeit nodig om bij het klassiek circus 

ook daarvoor te rade te gaan en 

ROLAND VERMEYLEN 56

classic circuses for their opinion on contemporary 

circus. Compare for example the Finnish circus 

scene, with the very successful and classic 

Finlandia, coordinated by the young Carl Johan 

Jernström who programs many young, Finnish 

circus professionals trained at various European, 

Canadian, Russian and Ukrainian circus schools. 

At circus festivals in Finland, you can come across 

the classic Finlandia as well as more theatrical 

forms of circus. 

In any case, I would have presented a more 

specific title for the festival so as to announce its 

pedagogical and artistical nature more clearly. 

This way, Ivan Kralj might have loosened the 

bonds with the past French influences, which he 

has already described as being too dominant and 

too prevalent. 

After seven or eight years, another life cycle is 

completed. Perhaps at the moment Festival 

novog cirkusa runs close to the tracks of those 

wishing to colonise and intellectualise circus 

culture. From the outside, some try to direct and 

control the circus world and define tomorrow’s 

circus artists. This causes the increasing diversity 

in the circus scene to be cut off from its own 

riches. Appreciate, enjoy, keep an open mind and 

don’t judge too easily. Without this, there would 

be fragmentation, which is not compatible with 

emerging creative forms. Let’s continue to value 

the fertility of diversity and leave exclusion and 

exclusivity aside, and new creative bridges will 

readily connect classic and more theatrical circus. 

This Zagreb festival, led by this young, passionate 

and open-minded Ivan Kralj can be of further 

consequence in the international circus scene. 

With all our hearts, we wish that he may continue 

to firmly anchor his efforts and be rewarded for 

them. 

onbevooroordeeld te zien hoe hedendaags circus 

daar wordt ingevuld. Ik denk alleen al aan het 

Finse circuslandschap waar het klassieke, zeer 

goed draaiende, Finlandia nu onder leiding van 

de jonge zoon Carl Johan Jernström de helft 

van zijn programma vult met jonge, Finse 

circusprofessionelen die uit diverse Europese, 

Canadese én Russisch-Oekraïense circusscholen 

komen. Op circusfestivals in Finland tref je dan 

ook evenzeer het klassiekere Finlandia aan naast 

nieuwere, meer theatrale circusvormen. 

In elk geval zou ik een preciesere titel van het 

festival zoeken om zo het nieuwe pedagogisch en 

artistiek ontmoeten scherper aan te kondigen…. 

En wellicht kan zo Ivan Kralj zich losser opstellen 

van de Franse invloed die hij zelf reeds als té 

dominant en té overheersend aanvoelt.Na zeven 

à acht jaar is steeds weer een levenscyclus 

voleindigd. Ivan is nu met zijn vriendenequipe 

zover. Door samen even een rustpunt in te 

bouwen, zijn eerste reeks van acht festivals 

tijdelijk stop te zetten en niet meer zomaar te 

downloaden wat zij gewoon zijn, kunnen er 

nieuwe bovendrijvers komen.Dan is zijn festival 

weer opnieuw een echte “emerging art form”. 

Nu loopt hij wellicht teveel in het spoor van 

sommigen die deze circuscultuur willen 

koloniseren en intellectualiseren. Men wil van 

buitenaf de circuswereld beheersen en bepalen 

hoe de circusartiest van morgen moet zijn. Zo 

wordt de diversiteit die steeds maar groeiend is in 

het circusveld afgesloten van zijn eigen rijkdom. 

Waardeer ze, geniet ervan, hou open mind en 

beoordeel niet zomaar wat goed en slecht is. 

Anders ontstaat er fragmentatie en dat is zeker 

ook niet te rijmen met “emerging-creatief”. Laat 

ons de rijkdom van de diversiteit verder 

waarderend bekijken en dan komen er vanzelf 

opnieuw creatieve bruggen tussen klassiek en 

meer theatraal circus. Anders blijft het een 

gevecht van uitsluiten en verarmendende 

exclusiviteit. 

Dit Zagreb-festival met deze, jonge, gedreven 

leider met zijn heel open mind kan dus nog véél 

betekenen in het internationale circuslandschap. 

We wensen het Ivan Kralj dan ook van harte om 

zo zijn inspanningen terecht verder te verzilveren 

én duurzaam te verankeren. 

ROLAND VERMEYLEN 57

Now you see it… 

now you don’t: 

Character 

and Circus 

S U S I E W I L D 

At the eighth year of Festival Novog Cirkusa in 

Zagreb trickery was at work as new magic met 

new circus on and off stage. From the 

disappearing ink of the programme through the 

surreal spectacle of Le Cirque Invisible to the 

unseen trickster in L’Autre nothing was quite 

what it seemed. 

Beginning with a magical mystery tour, a bus 

drove the audience from Zagreb to Slovenia to 

enjoy Le Cirque Invisible – a two-hour play session 

of magic, humour and transformations by the 

enchanting Victoria Chaplin, daughter of Charlie, 

and her cheery life partner Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée. 

Victoria Chaplin and Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée met 

in 1969. They cut an odd but compelling couple. 

Chaplin, an elegantly elfin acrobat and beguiling 

shape-shifting chameleon with long dark locks 

and ever-widening eyes, and then Thiérrée, a 

madcap clown-wizard with wild-white hair, 

twinkling blue eyes and a big grin. Timeless 

archetypes of nostalgic circus, the eccentric and 

devoted pair have been performing this, their third 

show, across the globe for three decades. Jean- 

Baptiste Thiérrée would have loved “to have 

produced just one, but work[ed] on its 

improvement forever”. For him, it never seems 

tiresome, and his playful joie de vivre is 

contagious; we let him carry us away with Le 

Cirque Invisible and away with the fairies to a land 

of imaginative make believe. 

“Hup!” shouts Jean-Baptiste as each trick is 

revealed. He is a master of blink-and-you-miss-it 

visual gags and pimptastic costumes. You’ll have 

wardrobe envy at least once during the 

performance as he appears in kitsch suits of 

tapestry, space-age silver or zebra print, carrying 

matching suitcase-tables of tricks. Predictably 

unpredictable, he tells jokes, juggles, creates loud 

crashes from teeny tiny objects, turns silk 

handkerchiefs into doves and, at one point, saws 

Victoria Chaplin in half. Victoria’s brand of 

costumery is more performance high art: she 

sculpts her own strange little worlds out of fabric 

and furniture, creating a muddled menagerie of 

surreal fantasy creatures from bulls and dragons 

to underwater dwellers. Chaplin is a mistress of 

reinvention. One minute a one-woman band 

playing a tune with cutlery and glassware, in 

another she is a flowerpot woman, a hermit crab, 

or a coffee-drinking lady. A trained dancer and 

acrobat, at times she moves away from oddness 

to create real beauty with movement, as with her 

swirling silk projection dance, of an ilk first 

pioneered by Loie Fuller, and her surprisingly 

sprightly grace in the art of contortion, and on 

the tightrope, where she does the splits. 

Between them, they have a top-hat-full of 

presence (and rabbits). The characters and the 

love story and the years of experience become 

the glue that holds the acts together and keeps 

our attention; even as the repetitive nature of acts 

and gags starts to grate. We laugh and we allow 

ourselves to be small children, suspending 

disbelief even as we see the hands of their 

assistants, or tricks that fail, because these are 

masters of their trade. They wink at us and each 

other, bursting with prowess, pride, selfdeprecation 

and self-irony as the up-closeness of 

small theatre viewings of their acts deconstructs 

their circus techniques and the semantics of the 

magic show whilst still showing a mixed 

mainstream audience a good time. 

Rarely on stage together, their cycling finale is 

a double act of chrome contraptions – wheels 

weird and wonderful – before a never-ending 

curtain call (as if to say, ‘look what else we can 

do’). A pass-the-parcel of costume changes and 

bonus acts, with the go-go energy of the Duracell 

bunnies they finally fill the stage with. 

What was not invisible, but was meant to be, 

led to the two unintended mishaps of Friday 

evening’s double bill. Raphaël Navarro and 

Clément Debailleul (Cie 14:20)’s career may be 

SUSIE WILD 58

WHS – Kalle Hakkarainen – Nopeussokeus © Petri Virtanen 

made up of prestigious collaborations with the 

likes of fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier and 

the choreographer Philippe Découflé, but in 

Zagreb their brand of new magic failed to 

impress. Perhaps it was a mistake, and a brave 

mistake, to show a short seven-minute unit of 

a longer composite piece alone at the festival. 

Gravitation is a solo work that examines the place 

between the states of sleep and wakefulness, a 

place free of gravity, through movement. Dressed 

simply, in a black t-shirt and trousers, French 

juggler François Chat merges dance with wooden 

stick manipulation, attempting to be at one with 

the stick, move as the stick, and levitate, but 

never quite convincing. 

Pioneers of the new magic movement, Cie 

14:20’s company ethos is to campaign for an art 

that emancipates our emotions. They want their 

new magic to question the invisible and awaken 

our senses to the sublime. Gravitation forms part 

of their dance-magic-circus show Vibrations, 

which “offers the discovery of this peculiar 

language where the diversion of the real is 

thought of as an artistic state, where the body is 

not constrained any more by reality. Bodies stir 

and are supple, freed from the law of gravity. The 

movement and the physical reality are overthrown 

by magic. Actors come in a state of weightlessness, 

split themselves, and the movement 

imprints its immaterial trace within the space.” 

The intent is to make the viewer feel a changeable 

gravity gives a new nature to objects, creating a 

weightless world. Unfortunately in this instance 

Gravitation did not work as a standalone act, 

marred yet more because the audience could see 

the stick’s puppeteer strings. Eschewing the 

distraction of sets and costumes, or the charm 

offensive of a character like Jean-Baptiste, the 

success of the performance instead relied on the 

fine execution of movement and circus skills, and 

those were found to be lacking: the piece did not 

capture the viewer’s trust and imagination as it 

should have. It did not achieve what it set out to do. 

After the interval came one of Helsinki’s more 

experimental circus artists, Kalle Hakkarainen, 

with Nopeussokeus (Speed Blindness/Motion 

Blindness). Designed, directed and performed by 

Hakkarainen, Nopeussokeus is a new magic 

multimedia solo performance depicting the long 

seconds when a body and a machine collide in a 

car crash. The piece references the distorted 

SUSIE WILD 59

perception of speed when in a fast car, as well as 

the rare neurological disorder akinetopsia where 

the patient cannot perceive motion, instead 

seeing the world as a series of frozen pictures, 

stop frames prior to animation. Interested in the 

magic of cinema special effects and seeking to 

blur the boundaries between movie and stage 

magic, Hakkarainen tried to recreate slow-motion 

performances from cinema live in a theatre. So 

we see him driving, trying to stay awake as words 

are projected on the (wind)screen in front of him. 

Trees, houses and fields flashing past him, again 

and again and again, his tired vision tunnelling. 

Bulbs flare and flash and red cables tangle with 

his thoughts. 

A trained visual artist, Kalle Hakkarainen’s 

intensely repetitive piece is not an easy fit in the 

circus box. There is very little of the physical in his 

theatre, and the one trick he does use, an old and 

classic move, is hampered, as Cie 14:20’s piece 

before his, by the visibility of the harness that 

makes it possible, and so any small chance of 

magic is dispelled. It does not work well as avantgarde 

theatre either, for he gives no expression, 

no presence, no character, and no drama. The 

viewer grasps for something that is not offered, 

and again they are not in awe purely of the skill 

involved in his work. The glorious soundscapes by 

Múm’s Samuli Kosminen cannot save it, and the 

audience leaves disappointed. 

Saturday brings a lot more joy, and the festival’s 

outstanding highlight – the surreal Kafka-esque 

dream world of L’Autre. Conceived and 

choreographed by Claudio Stellato in Brussels in 

collaboration with Martin Firket, it explores the 

physical language of a body with “no shape or 

joints, yet a body that is strong and meticulous”. 

Claudio is a highly driven performer who 

undertakes intense periods of research to perfect 

his art, drawing on mime and acrobatics to create 

his cleverly choreographed contortions: “This 

piece is the result of a long investigation (begun in 

2008) focusing on movement language and the 

relationship between body and object. What I 

have been pursuing (and am still researching) is 

the possibility of giving life, through movement, to 

my deepest impulses, hidden desires and every 

other part of my unconscious mind that does not 

usually manifest itself.” 

The piece begins, in pitch darkness, with the 

unnerving sound of scratching. A light comes 

up to reveal Stellato edging across a furled red 

carpet with a small cabinet supported on his back, 

his progress forward a struggle. As the show 

progresses, Stellato turns feline, moving from 

cabinet to wardrobe, as the red carpet breathes, 

furniture levitates and doors open and close by 

themselves. In the end, rather than 

anthropomorphising the inanimate, all is 

animated, and Stellato is objectified, becoming 

one with his surroundings. As he explores his 

landscape, the wooden containers tilt and fall, 

and he falls and rises with them with a deft 

humour that draws us into the magic of his world, 

and the genius of his simplistic invention. Like 

Chaplin in Le Cirque Invisible, Stellato makes the 

everyday into the extraordinary, turning the 

mundane into magic with his movements. 

“Through this performance I put on stage the 

possibility that a hidden part of myself takes a 

human form, free from constrictions, and comes 

to disrupt the conscious and rational part of me, 

along with its sense of reality. I call this inner part 

my ‘Autre’. On stage, I incarnate both: ‘me’ and my 

Autre (‘other’). They co-exist together in one body 

that is torn between two different ways of being: 

the conscious ‘me’ and the subconscious, 

imaginary ‘me’. L’Autre lives in a world made of 

living objects (furniture and other warped/ 

reinvented objects) that come to life one after the 

other. He manipulates them, discovers them.” 

Watching the piece, it feels like a solo show, but 

at the end it is revealed to be a duet. In the 

shadows lurks someone ‘invisible’ (Martin Firket) 

who makes the visible illusion possible. Stellato 

explains: “He is controlling everything the eye can 

see. A technician, a master of ceremony, a wizard, 

a puppeteer, or perhaps simply the person that 

makes the world of L’Autre possible and that 

defines it. With this piece, I am not trying to 

convey a clear message or to tell a tightly knit 

story. I’m looking to stimulate the senses of the 

audience and to provoke instinctive reactions, 

as in a dream…” 

SUSIE WILD 60

Le Cirque Invisible 

“We’re all going to die. 

All of us. What a circus! 

That alone should make us 

love each other but it doesn’t. 

We are terrorized and 

flattened by trivialities. 

We are eaten up by nothing.” 

C H A R L E S B U K O W S K I 

X E N I A H E L M S 

Roll up, roll up, the circus is coming! 

What is typical of a circus? 

Roll up! 

Dozens of colourful wagons full of daring artists, 

wild animals, shining sparkling costumes, lights, 

tents, benches, ropes, bars and chains roam from 

place to place, arriving at marshy meadows or 

dusty fields to bring audiences a few days of 

entertainment, amazement and magic. For what 

seems like hundreds of years, travelling circus folk 

have visited locals in their villages and towns, 

settling down for a short period of time and 

bringing with them everything they need to live 

and work. 

The Festival novog cirkusa in Zagreb turns this 

idea on its head for one of its performances. It is 

the audience that travels to the circus. Dozens of 

festival-goers meet at the main train station and, 

after a lengthy wait, board a coach with tinted 

windows. Our ID cards are scrutinised and our 

tickets are checked off from a list. People create 

social seating arrangements on the bus and finally 

we head off. 

The festival has existed since 2005, but it cannot 

draw on existing local circus structures or 

experiences nor on an audience with circusspecific 

knowledge, habits or preferences. As 

those travelling on the bus explain, unlike many 

other socialist countries, the former Federal 

Republic of Yugoslavia did not have a national 

circus or any permanent circus buildings like 

those which can still be found today in cities such 

as Riga or Moscow. According to them the Italian 

Le Cirque Invisible 

“We’re all going to die. 

All of us. What a circus! 

That alone should make us 

love each other but it doesn’t. 

We are terrorized and 

flattened by trivialities. 

We are eaten up by nothing.” 

C H A R L E S B U K O W S K I 

X E N I A H E L M S 

Der Zirkus kommt, der Zirkus kommt! 

Was ist typisch für den Zirkus? 

Er kommt! 

Dutzende bunte Wagen voll waghalsiger Artisten, 

wilder Tiere, glitzernder Kostüme, Lampen, 

Zelten, Bänke, Seile, Gitter und Gatter ziehen von 

Ort zu Ort, kommen zum Publikum auf sumpfige 

Wiesen und staubige Plätze, um für einige Tage 

Zauber, Staunen und Freude zu bringen. Seit 

gefühlten hunderten von Jahren besuchen 

Fahrende die Sesshaften in ihren Dörfern und 

Städten und bringen alles mit sich, was sie für 

Arbeit und Alltag brauchen, um sich für kurze 

Zeit niederzulassen. 

Das Festival novog cirkusa 1 in Zagreb dreht dieses 

Prinzip für eine Vorstellung um. Das Publikum 

reist zum Zirkus. Mehrere dutzend Festivalbesucherinnen 

treffen sich am Hauptbahnhof und 

steigen nach längerem Herumstehen in einen 

bereitstehenden Reisebus mit verdunkelten 

Scheiben. Unsere Identitäts papiere werden 

kontrolliert, die Eintrittskarten werden mit Listen 

verglichen, Sitzgemeinschaften bilden sich – und 

endlich geht es los. 

Das Festival existiert seit 2005 und kann weder 

auf bereits vorhandene örtliche Strukturen und 

Erfahrungen zurückgreifen, noch auf zirkusspezifische 

Kenntnisse, Sehgewohnheiten und 

Vorlieben des Publikums. Wie die Mitreisenden 

erzählen, gab es in der ehemaligen Republik 

Jugoslawien, im Gegensatz zu vielen sozialis- 

1 Http://www.cirkus.hr/ 

CHARLES BUKOWSKI 61

circus group Circo Medrano 1 received a permit 

once a year, to perform and travel through this 

multi-ethnic state, shaping the Serbian and 

Croatian image of the circus arts through its 

monopoly. Contemporary circus has been slow to 

take hold, and, as has been the case for those 

starting initiatives in many other European 

countries, Festival novog cirkusa was initially 

confronted with a void. Apart from some shaky 

third-party funding and meagre support from 

sceptical local politicians, it has come into 

existence only through great energy and the effort 

of individuals. The organisation running the 

festival, Mala Performerska Scena, is also actively 

involved in circus research and education. 

We travel to Maribor, which is today situated in 

the EU member state of Slovenia, while Zagreb is 

located in the non-EU country of Croatia. At the 

border, memories of a not too distant past are 

awakened. For many of us it has been quite a 

while since we last crossed a border checkpoint. 

The double passport checks seem to take forever. 

Finally we are allowed to continue our journey and 

arrive at the theatre shortly before the 

performance begins. Maribor is currently 

European Capital of Culture, but in the end of 

November on this rainy journey along the 

motorway and through the town there is very 

little we can see of it. We are here to see Le 

Cirque Invisible, The Invisible Circus, from France 

– a circus without a tent or a circus ring. 

When we arrive at the venue, there is just enough 

time to dash off to the toilet after the long journey 

and for some misconceptions with the 

monolingual staff in the foyer. In the theatre 

everything is written in Slovenian, causing some 

unexpected turmoil, but more of it later. 

Slovenian differs enormously from Croatian and 

so there is no similarity whatsoever between the 

words for ladies, row, seat and no photos 

permitted. After a good deal of shuffling back and 

forth, we eventually find our seats, the curtain 

1 Unfortunately the website of a circus by this name, http://www. 

medrano.it, does not contain any information about the tours in 

Yugoslavia before 26 June 1991 when in a public referendum 

Croatia and Slovenia decided to end their 73 year-old union in 

order to gain their independence. 

tischen Bruderländern, keinen Nationalzirkus, 

ebenso wenig wie feste Zirkusbauten, mit denen 

sich Städte wie Riga und Moskau bis heute 

schmücken. Einmal im Jahr erhielt wohl eine 

italienische Truppe, der Circo Medrano 2 , die 

Auftritts- und Reisegenehmigung durch den 

Vielvölkerstaat und prägte auf diese Weise 

monopolistisch das Bild der Serben und Kroaten 

von der Zirkuskunst. Wie in vielen nordeuropäischen 

Ländern traf folglich auch dieser 

internationale Treffpunkt für zeitgenössische 

Zirkusproduktionen in Kroatien auf eine 

Leerstelle, die von jenseits wackliger Finanzierung 

durch Drittmittel und skeptische Lokalpolitiker 

mit viel Energie und Selbstausbeutung gefüllt 

wird und über die Veranstaltungen des Festivals 

hinaus im Bereich der Zirkusforschung und – 

geschichte aktiv ist. 

Wir fahren nach Maribor, das heute in Slowenien, 

einem EU-Mitgliedsstaat, liegt, während sich 

Zagreb im Nicht-EU-Land Kroatien befindet. An 

der Grenze werden Erinnerung an lang vergangen 

geglaubte Zeiten wach. Viele von uns sind sehr 

lange nicht über einen Landgrenzübergang 

gefahren. Die doppelte Passkontrolle scheint 

ewig zu dauern. Endlich dürfen wir weiter fahren 

und kommen kurz vor Beginn im Theater an. 

Maribor ist Kulturhauptstadt Europas, doch davon 

können wir auf dieser regnerischen Fahrt Ende 

November auf der Autobahn und durch den Ort 

nur sehr wenig erkennen. 

Es spielt Le Cirque Invisible, Der Unsichtbare 

Zirkus, aus Frankreich. Ein Zirkus ohne Zelt oder 

Manege. 

Als wir ankommen, reicht die Zeit knapp für einen 

Toilettengang nach der langen Fahrt, und für 

einige Missverständnisse mit dem monolingualen 

Personal im Foyer. Im Theater ist alles auf 

Slowenisch beschriftet, was zu unerwartetem 

Aufruhr führt, doch dazu später. 

Das Slowenische unterscheidet sich vom 

Kroatischen immens und so gibt es keinerlei 

2 Die website eines Zirkus mit diesem Namen, http://www. 

medrano.it, gibt leider keine Auskunft über die Zeit von Tourneen 

auf jugoslawischen Gebiet vor dem 26.6.1991 als Kroatien 

und Slowenien nach einem Volksreferendum beschlossen, den 

Staatenbund nach 73 gemeinsamen Jahren zu verlassen und 

Souveränität zu erlangen. 

XENIA HELMS 62

ises and the magic begins. A quirky textile 

creature scurries on stage, circles around, 

wobbles, falls and transforms into a sea anemone, 

a shell and then into a giant mouth. A 

preposterous old man with wild white locks, 

reminiscent of Harpo from the Marx Brothers, 

keeps reappearing on stage in different costumes 

with topically appropriate suitcases. He attempts 

to do magic tricks, tell jokes, create tableaux 

vivants and sing songs with varying degrees 

of success. 

The scant staff: a woman, a man. Rabbits. 

Pigeons. Ducks. 

An invisible little helper during the blackouts 

between scenes. 

They appear on stage in alternation, clad in 

somewhat flimsy and in some cases frequently 

repaired costumes with daring gadgetry and old 

fashioned props. They give their best in various 

small sketches, including circus numbers, 

miniatures, one-act plays, tricks and athletic feats. 

The audience’s role is passive, just as it has been 

trained to be for thousands of years. On stage the 

actors stride, leap, speak and bedazzle, while the 

members of the audience sit in the hall – quiet, 

well-behaved, attentive with their eyes directed 

towards the events on the stage in front of them. 

Even the children in the hall are noticeably quiet 

and laugh in the appropriate places. In the course 

of the two hours of performance on stage, there 

is a single, very brief moment of interaction. A 

scene of orange, yellow and green: Jean-Baptiste 

Thierrée, enters the stage in a colourful suit 

covered with printed fruit. In a suitcase adorned 

with printed fruit are a number of oranges. He 

attempts to juggle and tosses the juicy orange 

spheres into the enchanted audience. He does not 

ask for them back, but rather leaves the stage 

immediately after the act. 

During the break, an obviously angry and 

linguistically challenged stagehand with bulging 

muscles suddenly appears, reeking of sweat 

approaches. Using stoic repetition of unintelligible 

words and menacingly infringing my comfort 

zone, he resolutely demands strict observance of 

the Slovenian notice signs, which are stuck on the 

outer side of the open doors and were thus 

Wiedererkennen der Wörter für Damen, Reihe, 

Platz und Photographieren verboten. Nach 

einigem Hin und Her ist der richtige Platz 

gefunden, der Vorhang geht auf, der Zauber 

beginnt. Ein seltsames, textiles Wesen trippelt auf 

die Bühne, kreiselt, wackelt, stürzt und 

verwandelt sich in eine Seeanemone, eine 

Muschel, einen riesenhaften Mund. Ein verdrehter 

alter Mann mit wilden weißen Locken, der an 

Harpo von den Marx Brothers erinnert, kommt 

in ständig wechselnden Kostümen und mit 

thematisch dazu passenden Koffern auf die 

Bühne und versucht sich mal mehr, mal weniger 

erfolgreich mit Zaubertricks, Witzen, Tableaux 

vivantes und Liedern. 

Übersichtliches Personal: Eine Frau, ein Mann. 

Kaninchen. Tauben. Enten. 

Unsichtbare Helferlein im Blackout zwischen 

den Szenen. 

Abwechselnd kommen sie auf die Bühne, in 

manchmal etwas fadenscheinigen, vielfach 

geflickten Kostümen, mit waghalsigen 

Apparaturen, mit altmodischen Requisiten, und 

geben kleine Szenen zum Besten. 

Zirkusnummern. Miniaturen. Einaktige 

Theaterstücke. Tricks. Sportliche Übungen. Die 

Rolle des Publikums ist passiv, wie es das seit 

Jahrtausenden eingeübt hat. Auf der Bühne 

schreiten, toben, sprechen, verzaubern die 

Akteure, im Saal sitzen die Zuschauerinnen und 

Zuschauer. Leise, artig, aufmerksam, den Blick 

nach oben gerichtet auf das Geschehen vor ihnen. 

Selbst die Kinder im Saal verhalten sich auffällig 

ruhig und lachen an den vorgesehenen Stellen. In 

zwei Stunden Bühnenprogramm gibt es einen 

einzigen, sehr kurzen Moment der Interaktion. 

Eine Szene in orange, gelb und grün: Jean- 

Battiste Thiérée kommt in einem bunten Anzug 

auf die Bühne, der mit Früchten bedruckt ist. Im 

mit Obstdrucken beklebten Koffer befinden sich 

Apfelsinen. Er versucht eine Jonglage und wirft 

die saftigen, orangeroten Kugeln ins entzückte 

Publikum. Zurück verlangt er sie nicht, sondern 

verlässt die Bühne gleich nach der Nummer. 

In der Pause verlangt ein wenig sprachbegabter, 

dafür um so muskelbepackter, ärgerlicher und 

nach Schweiß duftender Bühnenarbeiter durch 

XENIA HELMS 63

Victoria Chaplin & Jean-Baptiste Thierrée – Le Cirque Invisible 

© Mario Sabatini 

invisible when entering the hall. Under his severe 

supervision, unauthorised photographs had to be 

deleted from the digital camera, and only then 

was I, too, permitted to leave for the intermission. 

Fortunately the price list featured the Slavic 

omnilingual word pivo. With the trusty Euro and 

some basic finger counting, I was able to procure 

a freshly tapped beer, which greatly helped to 

ease the shock of the experience and paved the 

way for the second half. 

Le Cirque Invisible exists unchanged in its current 

form since 1990, with Victoria Chaplin and Jean- 

Baptiste Thierrée as the principal performers and 

supporting actors in all of the roles. The world, at 

least the political and territorial world of Europe, 

has changed almost entirely since then. In many 

regions the public and private spheres alike look 

nothing like they did in 1989 and before. New 

stoische Wiederholung unverständlicher 

Worte und bedrohliche Überschreitung meiner 

Komfortzone unnachgiebig die Befolgung 

der ausschließlich slowenisch beschrifteten 

Hinweisschilder, die außen an den geöffneten 

Türen kleben und so während des Einlasses 

unsichtbar waren. Die unerlaubten Photographien 

müssen unter seiner Aufsicht von der 

Digitalkamera gelöscht werden, danach werde 

auch ich in die Pause entlassen. Glücklicherweise 

verspricht die Preistafel slawisch omnilingual pivo 

und mit den vertrauten Euro und mit einem 

einfachen Fingerzeig lässt sich ein frisches Bier 

erwerben, welches den Schrecken gewaltig 

erleichtert und die Wogen zum zweiten Teil 

glättet. 

Le Cirque Invisible existiert in seiner heutigen 

Form unverändert seit 1990, mit Victoria Chaplin 

und Jean-Battiste Thiérée als Haupt- und 

Nebendarstellern in allen Rollen. Die Welt, 

zumindest die politische und territoriale Welt 

Europas, hat sich seitdem fast vollständig 

verändert. Vielerorts sieht im öffentlichen Raum, 

ebenso wie in vielen privaten Refugien, nichts 

mehr so aus, wie es 1989 und davor aussah. Es 

gibt neue Länder, Grenzverschiebungen, EU- 

Erweiterungen, Schengen-Abkommen. Victoria 

Chaplin und Jean-Baptiste Thiérée sind eine 

multinationale Entität, die sich über den Planeten 

bewegt und ihre Kunst so gut sie es vermag zum 

Besten gibt, zeitlos, unberührt von solcherlei 

politischen und territorialen Veränderungen 

und auch ihrer eigenen persönlichen, körperlichen 

und familiären Veränderungen. 

Victoria Chaplin wurde 1951 im kalifornischen 

Santa Monica in den USA geboren, doch ihr Vater, 

der gebürtige Brite Charles Chaplin verließ das 

Land, in dem er seine größten Erfolge drehte, 

nach einem widerrufenen Wiedereinreisevisum 

aufgrund seiner kritischen Haltung gegenüber 

J. Edgar Hoover, der ihn, wie viele unabhängige 

Geister und KünstlerInnen, „unamerikanischer 

Umtriebe“ bezichtigte, und zog mit seiner 

vielköpfigen Familie im Dezember 1952 endgültig 

zurück nach Europa. Victoria, das vierte von acht 

Kindern des Filmstars „Charlie“ Chaplin mit seiner 

sechsunddreißig Jahre jüngeren, vierten und 

letzten Ehefrau Oona, geborene O’Neill, wuchs in 

XENIA HELMS 64

countries exist, borders have shifted, the EU has 

expanded, and the Schengen Agreement applies. 

Victoria Chaplin and Jean-Baptiste Thiérée are a 

multinational entity that moves around the planet 

and gives its best at its art. It is timeless, 

untouched by such political or territorial changes 

and equally untouched by their own personal, 

physical and family changes. 

Victoria Chaplin was born in Santa Monica, 

California, in 1951, but her British-born father 

Charles Chaplin left the USA after filming his most 

successful movies there. His re-entry visa was 

revoked because of his criticism of J. Edgar 

Hoover, who had accused him of ‘un-American 

activities’ along with many other free thinkers and 

artists. In December 1952 he finally moved back 

to Europe, taking his large family with him. 

Victoria was the fourth of eight children that film 

star ‘Charlie’ Chaplin had with his fourth and last 

wife Oona, née O’Neill, who was 36 years his 

junior. Victoria grew up in French-speaking 

Switzerland and had already acted as an infant in 

her father’s film Limelight. Perhaps such an early 

start in show business was nothing unusual for 

the world’s most popular comedian and was in 

line of a family tradition, sketched by Chaplin in 

the film. Featuring biographical elements, the film 

pays homage to the days of vaudeville and music 

halls. Charles Chaplin’s parents were artists in 

music hall programmes. As a child, he, too, 

worked in these shows, which contained many 

circus elements such as music and acrobatics, 

and which can be seen as an equivalent to the 

American vaudeville shows. In 1928 he filmed 

The Circus for United Artists. The film brought 

him his first Oscar. He received his second Oscar 

in 1972 for Limelight. 

Just like the circus folk from centuries past, 

Victoria and Jean-Baptiste move from the city to 

the countryside, and from the countryside back 

to the city, bringing their art to willing audiences, 

either in person or on the big screen. 

Le Cirque Invisible is their third production and 

their third circus since they first met in 1969 

and virtually married on the spot. Their meeting 

is unusual and to some it would appear to be 

magical. Victoria Chaplin’s wish to become a 

der französischsprachigen Schweiz auf und hatte 

bereits als Baby einen Auftritt als Darstellerin in 

einem Film ihres Vaters, Rampenlicht 3 . Der frühe 

Einstieg in das Unterhaltungsgeschäft im 

Kindesalter ist für den weltberühmtesten Komiker 

vermutlich nichts Ungewöhnliches, sondern 

entspricht einer familiären Tradition, und wird 

von Chaplin in diesem Film verarbeitet, der 

biographische Züge trägt und der Zeit des 

Vaudeville und der Music Hall huldigt. Charles 

Chaplins Eltern waren Künstler in Music-Hall- 

Programmen und so arbeitete er bereits als Kind 

ebenfalls in solchen Unterhaltungsshows, die viele 

Elemente des Zirkus wie Musik und Akrobatik 

enthalten und äquivalent zum US-amerikanischen 

Vaudeville zu sehen sind. 1928 drehte er den Film 

The Circus für United Artists, für den er seinen 

ersten Oscar erhielt, den zweiten bekam er 1973 

für Limelight 4 . 

Wie Zirkusleute Hunderte von Jahren vor ihnen 

ziehen sie von Stadt zu Land und von Land zu 

Stadt und bringen ihre Kunst zum geneigten 

Publikum. In Persona oder auf der Leinwand. 

Le Cirque Invisible ist ihre dritte Produktion, ihr 

dritter Zirkus seit sie sich 1969 begegneten und 

fast auf der Stelle heirateten. Die Begegnung ist 

ungewöhnlich, manchem mag sie wie Zauberei 

erscheinen. Victoria Chaplins Wunsch, sie wolle 

Clown im Zirkus werden, wird in einem 

Magazinartikel über ihren Vater kolportiert. Der 

in Paris geborene Arbeitersohn Jean-Baptiste 

Thiérrée, der mit 25 Jahren nach etlichen 

Aushilfsjobs in allerlei Gewerken eine eigene 

Compagnie gründete und fünf Shows in drei 

Jahren produziert, liest den Artikel und suchte 

daraufhin den Kontakt zu ihr. Sie verlieben sich 

und laufen gemeinsam davon. Sie ist kaum 

erwachsen, 18 Jahre alt, er siebzehn Jahre älter. 

Eine weitere Familientradition mag manche 

3 Im Original: Limelight, USA 1952. Regie, Buch, Produktion, 

Musik: Charles Chaplin. 

4 Aufgrund einer inzwischen geänderten Regel der Academy 

of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences war Rampenlicht für die 

Oscars im Jahr 1972 wählbar. Gemäß dieser Regel konnte 

ein Film nominiert werden, wenn er im fraglichen Auswahljahr 

erstmals im Stadtgebiet von Los Angeles einem zahlenden 

Publikum gezeigt wurde. Dies war bei Rampenlicht der Fall. In 

der Kategorie Beste Filmmusik wurde das Werk nominiert und 

gewann 1973. Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampenlicht 

_%28Film%29#Auszeichnungen 

XENIA HELMS 65

clown in a circus, as was reported in a magazine 

article about her father. Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée 

was born into a Parisian working-class family and 

at 25, after many odd jobs in a variety of trades, 

he founded his own company. He produced five 

shows over the course of three years and after 

reading the article he tried to make contact with 

Victoria. They fell in love and eloped. At the tender 

age of 18, she was barely an adult and he was 

17 years her senior. Another family tradition some 

might think, but her father Charles, having Victoria 

perform in his last film A Countess from Hong 

Kong, was not amused. 

The story of their meeting, how they became a 

couple and had a family, sounds so dream-like and 

wonderful that it is like a fairytale set in the circus 

and the world of show business. In 1970 they 

performed in Frederico Fellini’s The Clowns. In 

this film, Fellini erects a memorial to his lifelong 

fascination with the circus. He sought out the 

greatest European clowns of his time and carried 

out research in a museum for circus history. 

Together, Victoria and Jean-Baptiste dreamed of 

a great, romantic, never-ending love, which was 

repeatedly manifested in the press, reviews and 

reports of the time, but above all they dreamed 

of a new and different circus. 

In 1971 their Cirque Bonjour premiered at the 

festival in Avignon, but after three years they 

wanted to continue their quest for a new circus 

and parted company with the animals, the 

40 artists, the old big top and the orchestra. 

They founded Le Cirque Imaginaire and performed 

with their two children, James and Aurélia 

Thierrée, who came on stage with ‘walk-on 

numbers’ dressed as suitcases. Over the years, 

the children became more independent and finally 

left the family company Cirque Imaginaire. They 

tried their hand at many different disciplines, but 

in the end they returned to the stage and created 

their own shows using their circus knowledge and 

the help of their parents, for example in designing 

and making costumes and props. Aurélia once 

commented on working with her mother Victoria 

for her production Aurélia’s Oratorio: 

denken, doch Victorias Vater Charles, in dessen 

letztem Film, Die Gräfin von Hongkong 5 , sie einen 

Auftritt als Schauspielerin hat, ist not amused. 

Die Geschichte ihrer Begegnung, ihres 

Zusammenkommens und der Gründung einer 

Familie klingt so traumhaft, so wunderbar, so 

märchenhaft wie man sie sich nicht schöner für 

eine Erzählung über den Zirkus und die Welt der 

Bühne ausdenken könnte. 1970 spielen sie sich 

schließlich selbst in Frederico Fellinis Die Clowns 6 , 

der mit diesem Film seiner lebenslangen 

Faszination für den Zirkus ein Denkmal setzt und 

die größten noch lebenden europäischen Clowns 

seiner Zeit aufsucht und in einem Museum 

Zirkusgeschichte erforscht. Gemeinsam 

erträumen sie sich eine große, romantische, nicht 

endende, immer wieder durch Pressetexte, 

Rezensionen und Berichte manifestierte Liebe 

– und einen anderen, einen neuen Zirkus. 

Im Jahr 1971 erlebt ihr Cirque Bonjour beim 

Circusfestival in Avignon Premiere, doch nach 

drei Jahren wollen sie weiter hinaus in ihrem 

Bestreben nach dem Neuen und trennen sich von 

den Tieren, den 40 ArtistInnen, dem großen alten 

Chapiteau und einem Orchester. 

Sie gründen Le Cirque Imaginaire und treten mit 

ihren beiden Kindern James und Aurélia Thiérée 

auf, die Walk-On-Nummern auf die Bühne bringen 

– als Gepäckstücke verkleidet. Im Laufe der Jahre 

beginnen sie jedoch nach Selbständigkeit zu 

streben und verlassen mit zunehmendem Alter 

das Familienunternehmen Cirque Imaginaire. Sie 

probieren sich in vielen verschiedenen Disziplinen 

aus, inzwischen sind sie jedoch beide auf die 

Bühne zurückgekehrt und kreieren ihre eigenen 

Shows, für die sie das circensische Wissen und 

die Hilfe ihrer Eltern, beispielsweise bei der 

Gestaltung und Herstellung der Kostüme und 

Requisiten, gerne beanspruchen. Aurélia über 

die Zusammenarbeit mit ihrer Mutter Victoria 

für ihre Produktion Aurélias Oratorium: 

To me working on a new show is like arriving to 

a new town or a new country: I start to study the 

5 Im Original: A Countess from Hong Kong, GB 1967. Regie, Buch, 

Musik: Charles Chaplin 

6 Im Original: I clowns, I 1970. Regie: Frederico Fellini, TV-Film für 

RAI, der auch in die Kinos kam. 

XENIA HELMS 66

To me working on a new show is like arriving 

to a new town or a new country: I start to 

study the language, I familiarise myself with 

the names of the streets until I find my own 

place then I can focus on exploring where 

and who I am. This is how I enter Vicky’s 

world: a world built with wood, cardboard 

and images, the world of her imagination, her 

subconscious; once I’m there I try to interpret 

it according to who I am, I try to make it my 

own. Vicky creates almost everything by 

herself: costumes, set design, visual effects. 

When performing in Aurélia’s Oratorio I used 

to say: she has created everything, including 

myself!” 2 

Her parents are less talkative and keep a low 

profile when it comes to their work. The loud and 

sensational style that is usually associated with 

the circus world is not what they are interested in. 

For decades they have ceased to give interviews, 

but a few statements make the rounds. It is said 

that Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée would have preferred 

to produce a single show, a single circus, and 

worked on improving it until the end of time. 

Maintaining the quality of all of the numbers in the 

two-hour performance of Le Cirque Invisible could 

come quite close to this dream, given that the 

two sole protagonists, Victoria Chaplin (61) and 

Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée (79), have grown old with 

their circus. The confident and elegant 

performance of some scenes, for example 

requiring contortion or the tightrope, is certainly 

more demanding for them compared to 20 years 

ago. The New Circus of these two old people uses 

the ancient vocabulary of metamorphosis and 

illusion: nothing is as it appears and everything 

can be transformed into something completely 

different. Its aesthetic is reminiscent of the silent 

film era, with feathers, suitcases, fans, lace and 

Japanese umbrellas made from painted paper 

– accessories of a worldly lady from the Victorian 

period, when riding a bicycle was still daring and 

wearing trousers was unthinkable. The animals 

that appear on stage are used as demonstration 

2 Valentina Bonelli, ‘Aurélia Thierrée – Chaplin’s granddaughter 

brings on stage the “enchanting” spirit of her legendary 

performing dynasty’. Interview: Vogue Italia, published 7 June 

2011. http://www.vogue.it/en/people-are-talking-about/musictheatre-cinema/2011/07/aurelia-thierree 

language, I familiarize myself with the names of 

the streets until I find my own place then I can 

focus on exploring where and who I am. This is 

how I enter Vicky’s world: a world built with wood, 

cardboard and images, the world of her 

imagination, her subconscious; once I’m there I try 

to interpret it according to who I am, I try to make 

it my own. Vicky creates almost everything by 

herself: costumes, set design, visual effects. 

When performing in Aurélia’s Oratorio I used to 

say: she has created everything, including 

myself!“ 7 

Ihre Eltern sind weniger redselig und halten 

sich über ihr Schaffen bedeckt. Das Marktschreierische 

was als Allgemeinplatz so gerne mit 

dem Zirkus in Verbindung gebracht wird, ist nicht 

ihre Sache. Seit Jahrzehnten geben sie keine 

Interviews mehr, doch es kursieren einige Zitate. 

So hätte Jean-Baptiste Thiérée am liebsten nur 

eine einzige Show, einen einzigen Zirkus, 

produziert, diesen jedoch bis in alle Ewigkeit 

verbessert. Die Qualität aller Nummern der 

zweistündigen Vorstellung des Cirque Invisible 

aufrecht zu erhalten, könnte diesem Traum sehr 

nahe kommen, denn seine beiden einzigen 

Protagonistinnen Victoria Chaplin (61) und Jean- 

Baptiste Thiérée (79) sind mit ihrem Zirkus alt 

geworden. Die sichere, elegante Ausführung 

mancher Szenen, die zum Beispiel 

Kontorsionistik8 oder Seillauf erfordern, dürfte 

ihnen sehr viel mehr abverlangen als noch vor 

20 Jahren. Der neue Zirkus dieser alten Leute 

bedient sich eines uralten Vokabulars von 

Metamorphose und Illusion: nichts erscheint wie 

es ist und alles kann sich in etwas völlig anderes 

verwandeln. Seine Ästhetik lässt an die 

Stummfilmära zurückdenken: Federn, Handkoffer, 

Fächer, Spitze, japanische Schirme aus bemaltem 

Papier – Accessoires einer weltgewandten Dame 

im viktorianischen Zeitalter als das Fahrradfahren 

noch ein Wagnis war und an Hosen nicht zu 

denken gewagt wurde. Die auftretenden Tiere 

7 Valentina Bonelli: Aurélia Thierrée – Chaplin’s grand-daughter 

brings on stage the “enchanting” spirit of her legendary 

performing dynasty. Interview in: Vogue Italia, VÖ 7.6.2011. 

http://www.vogue.it/en/people-are-talking-about/music-theatrecinema/2011/07/aurelia-thierree 

8 die akrobatische Kunst des Sichverbiegens, von lat. contortio 

‚Drehung, Windung‘ 

XENIA HELMS 67

objects in the long-standing tradition of the magic 

show. However, they bravely bear their role as 

living clichés and ensure hilarity through brief 

moments of unpredictability for which there is 

otherwise no room in the clockwork programme. 

The references in many jokes and creations will 

not be well known to younger generations; once 

exotic beauties and the fascination of distant 

places will not be very understandable in their 

globalised world. The moments of criticism and 

the desire to improve the world might also seem 

outdated and old-fashioned. 

Nevertheless, on this evening in Maribor no one 

leaves before the performance has ended. Young 

and old applaud alike and are thrilled with each 

curtain call in which the two performers reappear 

in new costumes and create third part of the 

evening’s performance. We climb back onto 

the coach and travel back to Zagreb. 

stehen in einer langen Tradition als 

Demonstrations objekte in der Zauberkunst, 

doch sie ertragen tapfer ihre Rolle als lebendige 

Klischees und sorgen für witzige, weil winzige 

Momente der Unberechenbarkeit für die im 

uhrwerkartigen Ablauf ansonsten kein Raum ist. 

Die Referenzen vieler Scherze und Kreaturen 

werden jüngeren Generationen weniger vertraut 

sein, einstige exotische Schönheit und die 

Faszination des Fernen mag ihnen wenig 

verständlich erscheinen in einer globalisierten 

Welt, die Augenblicke von Kritik und 

Weltverbesserung überholt und altmodisch. 

Und doch verlässt niemand vorzeitig den Saal 

an diesem Abend in Maribor. Jung und alt 

applaudieren und freuen sich über jeden einzelnen 

Vorhang, der die beiden in immer neuen 

Kostümen auf die Bühne kommen lässt und wie 

ein dritter Teil der Vorstellung ist. Wir steigen 

wieder in den Reisebus und fahren zurück nach 

Zagreb. 

XENIA HELMS 68

This project has been funded with 

support of the European Commission. 

This publication reflects the views only of 

the author, and the Commission cannot be 

held responsible for any use which may be 

made of the information contained therein. 

© Unpack the Arts. Only the project leader 

and co-organisers of Unpack the Arts 

can freely use this publication. If another 

organization or medium wants to publish 

(extracts of) the article, please contact 

maarten@circuscentrum.be. 

www. 

unpack 

thearts 

.eu 

Coordination publication: 

Maarten Verhelst 

Graphic design: 

Wilfrieda Paessens 

www.wilfrieda.com 

Partners 

PROJECT LEADER: 

– Circuscentrum (B) 

CO-ORGANIZERS: 

– Copenhagen 

International Theatre (DK) 

– CIRCa (FR) 

– Mala prsa – Festival 

novog cirkusa (HR) 

– Subtopia (SE) 

– Halles de 

Schaerbeek (B) 

– CircusInfo Finland (FI) 

– Circusstad Festival 

Rotterdam (NL) 

– Humorologie (B) 

– Crying Out Loud (UK)

ZAGREB RESIDENCY FESTIVAL NOVOG ... - Unpack the Arts

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