32nd International Kalamata Dance Festival-HE WHO FALLS/Yoann Bourgeois Art Company

A small group of human beings has gathered on a floor. The platform on which they stand is not fixed. It shakes, loses its horizontality and begins to spin, faster and faster. It takes on the appearance of a raft on which shipwrecked men and women are struggling. Men and women will have to adapt to the changes affecting their bodies and movements.

He Who Falls emerges from the interplay of different forces. The set designed for this work is a simple floor that responds to a plethora of different mechanisms that play with a host of forces — balance, centrifugal force, sway, etc. The six individuals represent a sort of reduced humanity, attempting to maintain balance atop an unstable ground. They are forced to be reactive to physical forces and can never initiate their own movement. As they push back in response, the multiple physical principles will lead to a wide variety of situations.

Yoann Bourgeois’ goal is to situate the drama atop this sharp crest. He aims to radically refine movement by emphasising the intensity of a truth from the circus world: the performer is the vector of the forces that pass through him. He acts upon and translates the movements as they traverse him. Atop an ideal circus stage—whether that particular circus exists or not—man is set on the same level as the animals and machines that are alongside him. He is not dominating them. By repositioning things in this manner, humanity clearly appears to be more tormented.

Recommended Age: 8+

17.07 | 21:30 & 18.07 | 22:00 [65’]

KALAMATA DANCE MEGARON – MAIN STAGE