Compagnie Bal // Éloge du poil
Compagnie Bal (France): Éloge du poil
Zagrebačko kazalište mladih
26.11.2009., 20:00
27.11.2009., 22:00
Duration: 70 min
Ticket price: 70 kn
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Mingling with the mythological freak show icons, in the performance “Éloge du poil” (In Praise of Hairiness) Jeanne Moroj appears as a bearded lady. Emerging from our perceptions of circus fairs of a time long gone, a wondrous freak one points a finger at, she demonstrates a form of misterious femininity, both repulsive and alluring at the same time, acquiring a beard, as a masculine attribute, onto a woman’s body. The bearded lady can say or do anything, for she is not within the conventions of this world.
The hair represents the futile, it is a form of wilderness. Ornamented by it, the woman joyfully resurrects dead objects, skulls, animals, empty snail shells, bamboo branches, egg yolks… Things rejected after use. She chants requiems at a an animal graveyard; her dances are erotic and sensual, almost metaphysical; she confronts us with femininity, death and taboos of being different; attacks directly at our voyeurism as well as our affinity to exclude. In the ventriloquist’s stomach discussions between a skull of a badger (who mocks freedom and laughs at his own jokes in a buffoon-like fashion), a skull of a ram (who academically invites us to cut our veins, observe and enjoy every stage of our decomposition) and bearded lady (head torn off the body, just like in the western civilisation fond of standardizations) are being tamed. Ventriloquism facilitates a game: it enables us to hear inner voices, so rarely revealed, disclosing secrets.
Jeanne Mordoj discovered circus at the age of 13 at Saltimbanques school (Chenôve). She studied juggling, contortion and acrobatics as an amateur for four years. Seventeen-year-old Jeanne entered the national circus academy at the Châlons-en-Champagne. After a trying year, she was expelled, and hence started self-training through various experiences (including several minor movie, opera and theatrical roles). Jeanne has been powerfully influenced by Lan N’Guyen, professor at Cirque Plume school, juggling legend Jérôme Thomas, Marc Michel Georges, Yoshi Oida and Guy Alloucherie, theatrically. She cooperated with Cirque Bidon, La Salamandre, Cie Jérôme Thomas, Trio Maracassé, Cahin Caha. After “3 p’tits sous” and “Chez moi”, both dealing with feminine issues and meanings, “Éloge du poil“ is her third solo performance.
Remark: the performance is in French with Croatian subtitles
“She manipulates with humour and juggles with poetry.”
Jean Piere Govignaux, Est Parisien
“For more than an hour, the artist toys with words, dances with an egg yolk (!), moves the sky and the earth even more, thereby creating a hymn of womanhood and a perspective of a human nature in a miraculous mise-en-scène.“
Emmanuelle Latouche, La Voix du Nord
“As a juggler, an object manipulator, a comedian, she possesses a stunning empathy for things she manipulates. Enormous power of suggestion.“
Rosita Boisseau, Le Monde
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Concept and interpretation: Jeanne Mordoj
Direction: Pierre Meunier
Text: Jeanne Mordoj, Pierre Meunier
Set design and lights: Bernard Level
Music and sound: Bertrand Boss
Set and props and the bearded lady’s assistant: Mathieu Delangle
Sound technician: Eric Grenot
Costumes: Elisabeth Cerqueira, Stéphane Thomas, Tania Dietrich
Production: Compagnie Bal with the support of DMDTS, DRAC, Conseil Régional de Franche-Comté, Conseil Général du Doubs
Guest performance supported by: Culturesfrance – The French Ministry of Foreign affairs
The French Institute – Zagreb
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