The New Circus Season in Pilsen

Press release 04.05. 2015

The New Circus has already won over a number of fans in the Czech Republic and this thanks to The Forman Brothers’ Theatre which captivated audiences with their Obludárium (Freak Show), The Purple Sails and La Baraque – Bouda. Petr Forman has invited the most remarkable ensembles of the new circus universe to travel to various places around Pilsen. Fifty evenings of live music, acrobatic performances, workshops for the public, where visitors will have a unique chance to try out a particular circus technique themselves, and a delicate theatre atmosphere in the circus tent, all this can be experienced during The New Circus Season in Pilsen throughout 2015.

. MagdaClan: ERA – Sonnet for a Clown 13.5. – 18.5.

A name from a 1970s Italian movie inspired the young Italian circus ensemble MagdaClan, which is scheduled to visit Pilsen in May. The main female character, Magda, keeps repeating in the movie: "I can’t any more, I can’t any more", a statement also intimately familiar to the founders of the group: Robert Magry, Alessandro Maida, Giorgio Bertolotti, Erika Bettin, Daniele Sorisi, Giulio Lanfranco and Davide De Bardi. These performers from the younger generation of the phenomenon called Le Cirque Nouveau have settled permanently in Belgium. Their work offers the audience a spectacle of acrobatics coupled with a powerful story, as the existing modern circus schools, with their stronger emphasis on the dramatic drill of the graduates, are increasing the appetite for narration. The show called Sonnet for a Clown was created by the team in 2012 in collaboration with the Czech director Petr Forman and is the first collective work of the fresh graduates. Viewers can look forward to a project charged with the energy of youth, interspersed with ingenious acrobatics and intimate gestures. You may even become a part of the show! The artists sometimes involve the audience in their conversations. More information can be found here.

. Bêtes de foire 17.07.– 25.7.

You can look forward to a broad spectrum of emotions stirred up by the world of classic circus. The acoustic experience (drumming, an orchestra or a saw as a musical instrument) will complement visual emotions (sequins, observation of lights, circular and vertical motions manipulating a certain space) as well as pure emotions, such as fear of the void, wavering balance, and impossible and multifaceted movement. But there will also be laughter. In the rhythm of a circus performance, you will be shown a sequence of spectacular feats arranged to leave the strongest possible impression on the viewer. More information can be found here.

. Cirk La Putyka: Family (premiere) 1.9. – 15.12.

Family is an intergenerational project featuring representatives of classic circus alongside new circus performers, comprising several generations of actors, acrobats, and dancers. This performance is part of a long-term theme pursued by the ringmaster of Cirk La Putyka, Rosťa Novák, who himself is already the eighth generation of the family of puppet master Matěj Kopecký and, as such, naturally examines his relationship to his family’s roots and traditions as well as a desire to tear himself away from it and go his own way. At a time when traditional and new circus may at first glance appear to be in opposition to one another and the term new circus is starting to lose validity, being replaced with the term contemporary, the creation of the production Family is a daring artistic step towards the bridging of the gap between different approaches and generations. As a bonus to the new premiere, Cirk La Putyka will introduce itself to Pilsen audiences at the beginning of December 2015 at the New Theatre with the original version of their hit La Putyka, with their senior cast and special guests. More information can be found here.

. Cirque Aïtal: Pour le meilleur et pour le pire 1.9. - 31.10.

The French-Finnish duo of Victor Cathala and Kati Pikkarainen comprise Cirque Aïtal, a name of Occitan origin which translates as follows: That’s how it is. In January and February 2015, they will arrive to bring joy to audiences in Pilsen. The young couple will offer breath-taking acrobatics and, above all else, humour. Saying and creating things simply, truthfully and naturally is their characteristic way. Concerns about any language barrier are misplaced here as everything is very straightforward. Cirque Aïtal was founded by the duo of Victor Cathala and Kati Pikkarainen in 2004, and since then they have worked with a very authentic expression. Their precise bodywork literally transforms their language. Badische Zeitung published an article in 2013 describing how the audience in the tent roared with laughter. More information can be found here. . Dae Men: Losers 22.10. – 22.10.

Losers is a playful and daring new circus show about handsome, strong and rather clumsy men, two femmes fatales and an air hostess who, in the manner of a chameleon, changes her role, pulling off a concert of sounds and songs to entertain travellers en route from Prague to Barcelona. The travellers are the viewers themselves, accompanied on their trip by a sequence of masterful acrobatic acts, physical exercise pieces directed and choreographed by Jarek Cemerek and with a beatbox combined with live music at the loopstation of the musician and singer En.Dru. More information can be found here.

. Akoreacro: Klaxon 10.11. – 15.11.

At the core of the French ensemble Akoreacro are four acrobats who will arrive in Pilsen to perform their Klaxon show. This ensemble is not used to creating under a single director; every one of them adds their ideas, views, thoughts, and inspirations to the mix. The resulting shape of the performance is then moulded further, even by the audience itself. Klaxon offers a showcase of very vivid and swift acrobatics, with the entire ensemble flying through the air, its members sometimes ending up at truly perilous heights. Feast your eyes as the stage hosts a literal swarm of acrobatic pieces and feats. The tremendous energy of the artists is bolstered by a live musical accompaniment performed right on the stage; the circus increased its ranks in 2009 with four musicians, Guilhem Fontes, Boris Vassalucci, Guillaume Thiolliere, and Mathieu Santa Cruz, all of them coming from different corners of France, Italy and Portugal. More information can be found here.

. Žongléros – Cirkulárium, The centre for new circus in Pilsen

Fish have their aquarium, reptiles have their terrarium and we have our Cirkulárium, for small and grown-up circus performers alike! Cirkulárium is the new circus centre in Pilsen! The Žonglér civic association has been involved in juggling, acrobatic and drumming workshops for several years. Two years ago, they were among the founding members of the Cirkonet programme bringing together organisations pursuing Social and Youth Circus in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They also gain expertise abroad, their instructors are regular attendees at the European Juggling Convention and also have completed certified social circus training in Alicante, Spain, where they helped to found a low-threshold centre pursuing social circus as a method of working. This year in spring, they started collaborating with Ledovec o. s. (Glacier, a civic association) and since then they have been running long- term courses for children from the Dobřany Psychiatric Hospital. In addition, they run courses for the general public, including an age bracket as young as pre-school children. Their instructors are graduates from faculties of education. At the beginning of summer, Žongléros (Juggleros) hold a regular two-day multi-genre festival, Žonglobalizace (Jugglobalisation), which has already introduced a variety of musicians, jugglers, acrobats and other artists from the Czech Republic as well as from abroad. More information can be found here. You can download press quality photos of the New Circus Season here.

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For further information about Pilsen 2015 or interview requests kindly contact Katerina Kombercova either via email [email protected] or at + 420 702 401 772 (CZ), + 43 660 377 36 (AT).

Contacts:

Katerina Kombercova, International Public Relations + 420 702 401 772 (CZ) + 43 660 377 36 35 (AT) [email protected]

Radovan Auer, Director of Communication of Pilsen 2015 +420 602 255 546 [email protected]

Mirka Reifová, PR Manager of Pilsen 2015 +420 606 090 801 [email protected]