Esquif

A circus and music show

by Surnatural Orchestra, Inextremiste and Basinga

created at Grainerie (Fabrique des arts du cirque et de l’itinérance), Balma (31), between April 18 and 28, 2016.

They won’t go far, they’ll go there, a few steps forward, wood plank bassline cord tightening,

Gas tanks by the dozen flute theme on a bed of brass.

Rhythms travelling from bottle to bottle (the hollow steel reverberates),

If one of them trips, the whole group capsizes.

18 musicians (a real-life orchestra), uncouth acrobats, a tightrope dancer on her high-up perch, beings that fight to stay standing, in (precarious) balance over what they find at their feet, whether they believe it’s solid earth or a playing field.

An eclectic troupe, united by a certain penchant for risk,

A strange habit of diving headfirst into uncomfortable situations,

With the intuition that something alive and exciting will always surface.

Fragile and strong all at once, all together, all in time.

To buy the disk, please click here .

Team

Fanny Menegoz (flute, piccolo), Clea Torales (flute), Adrien Amey (soprano and alto sax), Baptiste Bouquin (alto sax, clarinet), Jeannot Salvatori (alto sax, cavaquinho), Guillaume Christophel (tenor sax, clarinet), Nicolas Stephan (tenor sax, vocals), Fabrice Theuillon (barytone sax, effects), Guillaume Dutrieux (trumpet, bugle, mellophone), Julien Rousseau (trumpet, bugle, euphonium), Antoine Berjeaut (trumpet, bugle), François Roche-Juarez (trombone), Hanno Baumfelder (trombone), Judith Wekstein (bass trombone), Boris Boublil (keyboards, guitar), Laurent Géhant (sousaphone), Emmanuel Penfeunten (drums), Arthur Alard or Sven Clerx (percussions)

Yann Ecauvre & Rémy Bezacier (acrobats, Cirque Inextremiste), Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga (funambule, Compagnie Basinga)

Zak Cammoun, Guillaume de la Villéon, Rose Bruneau and François-Xavier Delaby – alternating (sound), Jacques-Benoît Dardant (lights), Nicolas Legendre (technical director)

Coproduced by

La Grainerie – Fabrique des Arts du cirque et de l’Itinérence-Balma, Cirque théâtre d’Elbeuf, Pôle National des Arts du cirque, L’Agora scène nationale d’Evry, Les 2 Scènes scène nationale de Besançon, Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil, 2R2C Coopérative de Rue de Cirque and Théâtre du Vellein with the support of L’Académie Fratellini.

ESQUIF was supported by the Région Île de France (production support for circus arts) and the ADAMI (dispositif ADAMI 365). The music for this show was partly created during a composition residency at the Théâtre les deux Scènes – Scène nationale de Besançon, supported by the Ministry of Culture and communication, the SACEM, ONDA and the Groupe Caisse des dépôts. Seasons 14/15 and 15/16.