S’assurer de ses propres murmures

With this piece we offer you a simple experiment ; having verified the theory “juggling and drums go well together”, we want to show you just how true it is, and the extent of its importance.
We want you to acquire a taste for them just as you acquire a taste for words or painting.
To do so, you will attend a circus show with drums as its heard and juggling, its body.
There will be aerial numbers that shape a network of ravines.

And it was actually a concert.
And you have acquired a taste for us.

“We want to understand a more intimate dimension of language : a whisper. A word that we share in very close proximity, the things that can only be expressed in the confidence of a fragile bubble protected by silence and mystery. S’assurer de ses propres murmures means listening to each other, each of us having a space for exchanging words : it also means taking the time we each need to hear our own murmurings. Lastly, it is inviting the world, the audience, to listen carefully to what we want to express. We tend to think of a show like a music album or a traditional circus performance made up of aerial numbers of performance charts. But, in fact, we are aiming for a long dance, a circus performance of concrete objects, in which the elements that are seen and heard can blend together in expected or unexpected ways. A burst of poetry, our algebraic equation, our chemical formula. The materials from the drum set are found in the juggled objects and in the scenography : metal objects (bells), wood (sticks of different sizes) and white balls, are like the drumheads or the bulbs from ou bank of lamps. Each concrete material element is part of the imagery and the sound.

Pulsation, phrasing, accents, the feeling of passing time, all the rhythmic elements which essentially bring juggling closer to music. We follow the rhythm, create the rhythm, and thus we are at the peak of our game. We seek childish vitally even in a virtuoso ritual. There is direct energy and case at the riskiest points of the performance. Abstract forms in search of evident simplicity.”

Created and interpreted by
Julien Clément : juggler
Pierre Pollet : drums
Staging : Nicolas Mathis
Lighting design : Thibault Thelleire
Sound : Olivier Filipucci
Scenography : Thibault Thelleire and Olivier Filipucci
Costumes : Sigolène Petey
External views :  Rémi Luchez, Marie Papon and Alix Veillon

Production director : Anna Delaval
Logistics coordination : Audrey Paquereau
Production administrator : Géraldine Winckler
Tour management : Luis Da Sylva, Pierre-Jean Heude et Thibault Thelleire

Production : Collectif Petit Travers
Co-production and creative residence : Le Vellein, scènes de la CAPI – Villefontaine / Théâtre Molière Sète -> scène nationale archipel de Thau / CCN2 – National Choreography Centre Grenoble as part of the Accueil-Studio / La Cascade – National Circus Centre Ardèche Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Funding support and residence hosts : Plateforme 2 National Circus Centres in Normandie I La Brèche à Cherbourg – Cirque Théâtre d’Elbeuf / Théâtre de Cusset – Ville de Cusset / Les SUBS, lieu vivant d’expériences artistiques / DÔME Théâtre
Supported by SPEDIDAM and the city of Villeurbanne

Running time : 52 min
Suitable for 6+

Creation october 2020 at Le Vellein, scènes de la CAPI – Villefontaine