Met ‘Tout va hyper bien’ maakt Collectif Malunés circus van de nabijheid

Festival Circolo 2025 is all about playfulness. Flemish circus company Collectif Malunés brings this theme to life with their energetic performance 'Tout va hyper bien'. In it, the line between audience and performer blurs: spectators find themselves in the middle of a living set, while acrobats glide over tables and float above the heads of the audience. 'Tout va hyper bien' (Everything goes super well) can be seen at Festival Circolo in Tilburg from 16 to 19 October 2025.

Collectif Malunés originated in 2009 at the circus college in Tilburg: the Academy for Circus and Performance Art. Three Flemish students and a French student founded a collective with the aim of breaking through the classic circus concept. Flemish Simon Bruyninckx (35) is one of the members of the collective. "The core still consists of the same members, although three people have since joined to take on the artistic direction," he says. ''The performance is the heart of the collective. Five to six people usually take part in it and we write the show ourselves. It seems like we always live together, but we don't: each member lives in his own town or city. But when we are on tour, our caravans are parked around the tent. That's about half the year though."

Collectively

An important part of the collective is that each member gets to put together his project, solo or duo. ,,The executive committee makes the decisions: which events are we going to and what are we going to do there. Being a collective sounds nice, but it is also exhausting. You always have to choose between different opinions. That's why two or three people take the artistic decisions for the collective. We also have people for communication, management, and maintenance of the trucks and the tent." For technology, they have four people of their own and further, external technicians are hired to help with the erection and dismantling of the tent. The artists themselves also roll up their sleeves in the process.

Does your collective differ from other companies? ,,As a collective, we try to create a space where everyone can be heard and seen. Everyone is allowed to think and collaborate. We want to show to the outside world who we are in everyday life. We don't play characters. We treat the audience as we are ourselves. That's how we try to quickly build a close relationship with them."

Superfigures

'Tout va hyper bien', is a participatory performance and the title refers to 'live in the moment'. ,,We are experimenting with this. With our acts, we try to blur the barrier between the audience and the performers. Circus performers are often portrayed as super figures who can do anything, but we are not. We are just as fragile as anyone else. We want to show that anyone can do what we do." Each time the show breaks the fourth wall. "We call it the 'circus of proximity'. We carry the performance but the people also carry - sometimes literally - us. No two performances are the same."

Collectif Malunés was inspired by Cathy Turner's theory called 'Porous dramaturgy'. In our dramaturgy, we want to leave gaps that the audience can fill in themselves. As performers, we make ourselves vulnerable. We expose ourselves and allow ourselves to be seen from all sides. Without being able to hide on a stage or set piece. There is nothing better than an artist who is honest. How do we experience this ourselves? During a regular performance, the audience is not exposed, but now they are. You see that people are really touched - you see them laugh and cry at close quarters. That is very beautiful to see."

Drinking a beer

The audience actively cooperates. ''We are not a fan of taking someone out of the audience and then making fun of them on stage. We make sure everyone gets a cool experience and doesn't have to do something they don't feel like doing. Those who don't want to actively participate can just sit at the back of the stands. The bar is open throughout the performance; people can stand or walk around, whatever they want. As long as they feel at home with us. And you can drink a beer we brew ourselves, which immediately creates a bond," Bruyninckx says.

,,What you're going to see in 'Tout va hyper bien' are new acts: lots of aerial acrobatics, flying trapezes and a seesaw that I use to shoot myself into the air. We do an act with the Cyr wheel. That's a big iron ring in which you spin. Together with my brother Vincent, I do the 'iron jaw'. We also use this circus technique in the show 'Bit by Bit'. We each clamp a leather bit in our mouths, connected to a taut steel cable. As a result, you get very close to each other. Literally we grow towards each other - until we form a body."

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