Se prendre

I

Piece for an apartment

This project is an essay on our intimate relationships, on the complexity of our attachments and distances, on the understanding of our bodies and our minds. We are inspired by this negotiation between ourselves and the Other in the storm of our identity crises.

Driven by the challenge of meeting, we enter the precarious cathedral of simultaneous existences, that complement, support, and confront each other.

The acrobatic language speaks to this balance, this rebuffing of our fragile and lonely condition. Responsibility and risk are shared. Harmony is a suite of imbalances overhauled. It’s an intimate path, a rocky land strewn with pitfalls, tremors, work and grace. We sail without definitive answers in long conversations, in risky quests.

Intimacy being a key factor of our research, we stage our piece in extreme proximity, inviting the viewer to join us in an atypical space of performance: an apartment.

II

The Team

Claudel Doucet

co-creator and performer

Claudel’s creative approach is immersed in interdisciplinarity. She collaborates as a director and dramaturge at the National Circus School of Montréal and with various partners among which Zip Zap Academy (Cape Town) and Uniarts (Stockholm).

She co-founded Cie du Poivre Rose (Brussels). In march 2017, she created QUE NOUS SOYONS, a site specific project produced by The 7 Fingers and LA SERRE - arts vivants. A graduate of the National Circus School (Montreal, 2004),

Claudel was once a contortionist and aerialist for Cirque du Soleil, numerous cabaret productions (GOP Varietes, Chämaleon), and toured with Circus Monti in Switzerland.

Cooper Lee Smith

co-creator and performer

From Minneapolis, Cooper moved to Montreal to attend the National Circus School. Freshly graduated in June 2018, he distinguishes himself by his atypical humor, his massive presence and his interdisciplinary approach to acrobatic art. Cooper first approached creation through dance, music and video before turning to circus. He collaborates occasionally with Cirque du Soleil and presents in 2017 and 2018 the street show "The Space Enthusiasts" in various festivals.

Félix-Antoine Boutin

dramaturge

A graduate in acting from the National Theater School (Montréal, 2012), Félix-Antoine founded Création Dans la Chambre with Odile Gamache (stage designer) and Julie Basse (light designer). With his multiform creations, he reconnects performing arts with sensitiveness. Through crafty processes, he weaves links between intimacy and spirituality; politics and existentialism. His collective has created : Un animal (mort), Koalas, Message personnel, Le sacre du printemps (Tout ce que je contiens), Les dévoilements simples (strip-tease), Archipel (150 Haïkus avant de mourir encore), Orphée Karaoké and Petit guide pour disparaître doucement. He is in research residency at L'L (Brussels) in partnership with Montevideo (Marseille) since March 2015.

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Étienne René-Contant

space designer

As a stage designer, Étienne works with space, light and movement. Through the performative medium, he plays to create a visual dramaturgy that is both dynamic and poetic. A graduate in Stage Design at the National Theater School (Montréal, 2018), he collaborates with the directors Arianna Bardesono, Philippe Cyr, Luc Bourgeois and Sébastien Gauthier.