Les Dodos a feel-good show with acrobats and guitars

The biggest circus festival, Festival Circolo will host the highly anticipated show 'Les Dodos' by French company Le P'tit Cirk. After nine years of great success across Europe, this feel-good show with humour, musicality and poetic acrobatics makes its Dutch festival debut.

The Spoorpark in Tilburg will be the venue for Festival Circolo for the thirteenth time. The circus festival will take place from 10 to 19 October. A major event offering a programme of 40 diverse circus performances, ranging from intimate acts to grand spectacles. A major theme of the festival is 'playfulness'. Playfulness is not only entertainment, but also a universal language through which circus artists challenge and broaden their vision of the world. Thus, 'playfulness' can serve as an antidote in the troubled world we live in.

Dissatisfaction

The performances of French circus company Le P'tit Cirk seem to satisfy as medicine for the discontent in our world. Their shows contain humour, music, spectacular acrobatics, and are accessible to large audiences. For Le P'tit Cirk, this is their second time performing at Festival Circolo. In 2010, the company made its debut with the show, simply titled, '2'.

Le P'tit Cirk was founded in 2004 by circus artists Danielle Le Pierès and Christophe Lelarge. "Our company differs from other circuses in that it is not a collective," Danielle Le Pierès explains. ,,I worked with big companies like Archaos and Cirque Plume, and as one of seventeen trapeze artists I hung out in the ring at Cie Les Arts Sauts. At the time, Christophe was working with the famous Canadian Cirque du Soleil, among others. We decided in 2004 that we wanted to start our own company. A circus troupe but with small and more intimate shows. Shows that also take place close to the audience. Where you can see and hear live music and where there is also acting."

Friendly acrobats

Le P'tit Cirk's pitch is in western Brittany; in the town of Lannion, not far from the French coast. ,,As a company, we don't actually own anything. We have a big tent and at our own house we have a room where we can rehearse. Christiophe and I always invite friendly acrobats to work with us and create our performances."

About the performance 'Les Dodos', in which guitars play an important role, Le Pierès says that about 10 years ago, someone offered a large number of guitars for sale. ,,Our son Louison wanted to use them to put on a show. Together with Charly Sanchez - who is a guitarist as well as an acrobat - he came up with several musical acts." She says the guitar suddenly took on a whole new function. For instance, several guitars set up in this performance act as set pieces or sometimes even as acrobatic instruments. The performers then jump around them, for example. Moreover, according to Le Pierès, the instruments form the identity of the show. ,,Yes, a guitar breaks occasionally, but we always have a stock of instruments on hand."

Physical ability

The title of 'Les Dodos' is derived from the extinct, non-flying fat bird, the Dodo. ,,For us, it is the first time Christophe and I are not playing ourselves in a show. Besides our son Louison and musician Charly Sanchez, acrobats Alice Barraud, Pablo Escobar and Basile Forest are playing along." She says the show is about five people who want to get the very best out of their physical ability. With dangerous stunts, they defy gravity. ,,In the process, they make mistakes and there are setbacks, but they get up every time. There is a lot of humour in 'Les Dodos' and you can see that the cast is having a lot of fun together."

,,This is our sixth performance and we have worked very hard to put the right emotion in this show. We didn't want to make an intellectual show, but something that touches people directly. It is definitely a feel-good show that completely embraces the audience. There is a lot of laughter and people leave the tent with smiles on their faces."

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