ÉCOLE D'ART ET DU MOUVEMENT HUMAIN
TIGHT ROPE
AN ART OF BALANCE
3 appointments 2024/2025
with Jérôme d’Orso
6 - 8 December
A Maelstrom of stabilty
Experiencing chaos
with Jérôme d'Orso
The practice of balancing on wire has been the object of my sustained attention for twenty years. I'll be sharing with you the experiences that have emerged from this quest, with particular reference to :
- Perception and sense of balance
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- Curves and spirals induced by joint systems
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- The incessant play of compensations and torque ratios of all our driving masses, in particular arms.
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- Mass effects and the dynamics of falls and rises
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- Feet and footwork
The urgent, immediate nature of our practice will help us to grasp the nuances of this dance of reaction, the dance before the dance that keeps us suspended in the midst of the storm of our internal compensations.
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This workshop is as much for experienced fil-de-ferists looking for a new perspective on the practice, as it is for neophytes trying it out for the first time. The possible points of attachment in the Exoskeleton will enable us to individualize the practices, and to be all together to experiment with the body and its sense of balance.
14 - 16 February
Between sky and earth
Embracing chaos
with Jérôme d'Orso
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For the acrobat of the 21st century, current knowledge of the human body in movement, derived in particular from the natural sciences, is of a richness and complexity that leaves one in awe of the incredible ingenuity of our “working tool”, our body.
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Traveling between Axis Syllabus and circus art, I propose to build bridges to apply the fundamental principles of functional anatomy and the physiology of movement on the wire.
Considering our bodies in their anatomical context, we'll seek to make informed use of our arms, legs and the undulations of the spine, to dedicate our gestures to maintaining suspension on the wire, while at the same time providing the impetus for our gestural compositions. We'll work on technique, proposing steps, sequences, turns, runs, slides and other rebounds in the form of specialized workshops, adapted to each individual's level.
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Through the transmission of a basic lexicon, and the search for possibilities (dances, rhythms and feats), the challenge will be to develop our listening skills, our “sense of balance”, and to deal with the dynamics of the fall by inventing a singular dance made up of momentum, catching, and joyful vertigo.
21 - 25 Avril
Intensive workshop
Enbodying chaos
with Jérôme d'Orso and Sanja Kosonen
On the edge, perfect, stable balance is a sweet dream, at best the fleeting fragment of a moment quickly passed. It's a situation of chaos. The fil-de-feriste's reactive gesture compensates for the imbalance, influences the trajectory of the fall, reverses the trend to return as close as possible to the ideal state of equilibrium. He composes with displacements of certain parts of his body, reshaping his form.
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Whether the fil-de-feriste's gesture is large, expressive, clearly visible, peripheral, with legs, arms, more distal and ample body masses, or whether it's more minimal, more interior, barely visible, with the torso, pelvis, more proximal body masses, the accelerations of provoked motor masses compose with the fundamental laws of our universe. Objects revolving around other objects. Forces, gravitational effects, gyrations that shift the center of gravity, redirecting new trajectories for new imbalances.
Precariousness, inherent to the practice, can be experienced as an inconvenience that thwarts the artist's technical or aesthetic projects, a kind of necessary evil, collateral damage. Yet this is the essential game, the specificity of the practitioner, where the game on the wire differs from dance or acrobatics on the ground.
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The proposal for this workshop could be expressed as follows: imbalance is the emancipating gift of chaos, the breeding ground for the creation of our art. During these five days, we'd like to fully invest these moments of deviance, to give our strategies for catching up and recovering the full potential of our artistic singularity. And we'll be able to experiment with these gestures, giving them rhythm, amplitude, intention, elegance and, if you like, our own way of embodying chaos.
The proposal, to accompany us along the way, would be based on three aspirations:
On the one hand, make the link between the concepts of the physical laws that order our world and our percepts. Recognize, through perception, the gravitational effects and forces at work. If you're already an experienced fil-de-feriste, you've got the percepts. Putting them into perspective with concepts could open up vast new fields of experience. If you like to think about how the world works, you'll be able to feel it. In any case, invest in your sense of balance, and develop your kinaesthetic intelligence.
On the other hand, look at our bodies. Beyond the inheritance we have received, of our body as a tool in the service of a form, there is the miracle of our bodily organization. A miracle of subtlety that, in its potential, may seem perfect for playing with gravity. We'd like to share with you a look at functional anatomy, which shows curves and spirals, orbital and spiral strategies everywhere in our bodies. In other words, a game of feinting in relation to gravity. The proposal here is to rally to our intrinsic nature, for the practice of thread, and to draw from it a multitude of possible responses to give to chaos. Therein lies our common humanity, born of millions of years of evolution in the earth's gravitational field, and also our singularities, our personal appropriations, our unique interpretations of somatic diving.
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Finally, play. Running, jumping, twirling, playing together, stringing together all the tricks of our trade. And putting in our taste, our energy, our imagination, our voice, our states of presence, our emotions, all those springs that sometimes work like magic, grabbing us and putting us in a flow that's beyond our comprehension. Fun, sharing, risk-taking, hopeless attempts and lots of laughs - these are undoubtedly the cornerstones of the project.
Pratical info for les week-ends (December and February)
Participants :
The workshop is open to everyone, from professional tight ropers and trainees to experienced amateurs and beginners.
Places are limited, so book early!
Time schedule (14 hours per workshop) :
Friday : 18.30h - 20.30h
Saturday and Sunday : 10h - 13h ; 14.30h - 17.30h
Fees :
140 euros per week-end
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If price is an obstacle for you, and you're motivated, we can talk about it,
and work out some arrangements.
Location :
L’Exosquelette, Le Muscardin, 331 rue de la piscine ; 26310 Luc-en-Diois
Housing :
Possibility of staying in a truck/tent/caravan on site (8 euros per night), or staying with local people in the village of Luc (15 euros per night).
Ask for it when you register.
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Info and registration :
Jérome d'Orso
+33 6 31 76 81 21
artsfelus@gmail.com
Pratical info for the intensive woorkshop (April)
Participants :
the workshop is open to professional tight ropers, trainees or experienced amateurs.
Places are limited, so book early!
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Time schedule (30 hours) :
Morning 10h-13h
Fternoon 14h30-17h30
Fees :
300 euros
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If price is an obstacle for you, and you're motivated, we can talk about it,
and work out some arrangements.
Location :
L’Exosquelette, Le Muscardin, 331 rue de la piscine ; 26310 Luc-en-Diois
Housing
Possibility of staying in a truck/tent/caravan on site (8 euros per night), or staying with local people in the village of Luc (15 euros per night).
Ask for it when you register.
​
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Info and registration :
Jérome d'Orso
+33 6 31 76 81 21
artsfelus@gmail.com