Photo : Je sens la terre bouger © Valentin Boucq
Commission for Rennes
I feel the earth move… (Je sens la terre bouger…)
Cirque Barbette
(Belgium)
A precarious tightrope under construction
Brussels-based choreographer Rosa Matthis uses wooden planks, ropes and tubes to create a performance installation in public space for two circus artists and three musicians. I feel the Earth move is a splendid, chilled out ode to small movements and simple gestures, built around a precarious tightrope act and spectator action.

For the past two years, Brussels-based Rosa Matthis has been installing her seesaw in public space in her quest to create a precarious tightrope, in a show which has become the first component in the trilogy, About Balance. Belgian company Cirque Barbette is presenting their first creation at the festival in the form of a compact performance installation for public space, based on a play on structures (involving wooden planks, ropes and tubes) that carefully create and share a sense of weightlessness. A dialogue develops between two circus artists and three musicians around the seesaw. The audience then become the counterweight and tightrope walkers during this quiet and peaceful interlude. I Feel the Earth Move becomes a splendid and chilled out ode to small movements and simple gestures.

Rosa Matthis is a circus artist, specialised in tightrope walking. In 2010, she founded her own company in Brussels, Cirque Barbette, a creative venue and small urban troupe which have already developed three touring performances: Ici (2010), Wasteland (2011) and CQFD (2015). In 2016, she began work on a new long-term circus creation in the form of a trilogy (About Balance). The first component, I Feel the Earth Move (of course, the air is full of it), was born from a stage in her work blending balance and “cool attitude”, public space and compact designs, collective construction and music.

Wooden planks, ropes and tubes are placed on the ground in a public square. This heap becomes a structure and then a seesaw is added with two circus performers standing face-to-face, maintaining balance to avoid touching the ground. The enchanting sounds of three musicians accompany the performance, which is gradually joined by members of the audience, who provide a counterweight and compensate movements as they join in the physical dialogue to become an artist and tightrope walker in their own right. As Rosa Matthis sums up nicely, “there is no frenzy, competition or examination”.

This is a collective and participatory game, a chilled out, sensitive sensory journey, a soft and fun circus that celebrates simple movements and the small things in life.

BIOGRAPHY

Brussels-based Cirque Barbette was founded in 2010 by Belgian circus artist and tightrope walker, Rosa Matthis. The company offers a creative venue and a shared home for creation, “together, on and off stage”. Some make occasional visits while others remain as the pillars of a small urban troupe. Cirque Barbette has created three solo tightrope creations and performances: Ici (2020), Wasteland (2011) and CQFD (2015), with a signature gentle style and desire to break down barriers with audiences. I Feel the Earth Move is a 2018 creation, co-produced by Les Tombées de la Nuit, and the first component in a trilogy on tightropes and balancing apparatus, entitled About Balance.

DISTRIBUTION

Directed, designed, written and performed by : Rosa Matthis.
With : Vanina Fandino, Judith Leonardon, Osvaldo Hernandez Napoles, Julia Tesson and Patricia Van Cauwenberge
Technical management : Valentin Boucq.

Friday 06 July 2018
20:30 > 21:30
Place du Parlement de Bretagne, Rennes
Saturday 07 July 2018
16:30 > 17:30
Place du Parlement de Bretagne, Rennes
Saturday 07 July 2018
20:30 > 21:30
Place du Parlement de Bretagne, Rennes
Sunday 08 July 2018
14:30 > 15:30
Place du Parlement de Bretagne, Rennes
Sunday 08 July 2018
18:30 > 19:30
Place du Parlement de Bretagne, Rennes

1h
Free
Métro/bus/vélo : République - Ligne de bus : toutes les lignes desservant le centre ville

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The association is supported by the City of Rennes, the Brittany Region, the Ille-et-Vilaine Department & the ministry of culture.

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