Review from: Cirqu’ Aarau Festival, Switzerland; 19 June 2025
In the centre of Aarau’s old military riding hall, now an adaptable, state-of-the-art performance venue, sits a large white square, like a gymnastic competition floor, with seating rising on all sides. The 19 performers of Collectif XY‘s Mobius, all in black, take their position in the square, raise their hands up then down, and suddenly swoop into a sustained sequence of acrobatic moves, bodies spinning around, flung from one group to another, stacking two, three and even four high. Between tricks, the performers run around the square or move in shoal of fish choreography. As many variations as one can imagine of getting onto, standing on and dismounting from shoulders are demonstrated. Three high stacks melt sideways into the ground and are then resurrected; a two high stack is lifted onto paired hands for a banquine thrust into the air with the thrown acrobats caught by a line of colleagues; a stack of four is reduced one at a time by taking the lowest out whilst a circle of acrobats hold the upper acrobats and lowers the stack to the ground; a body is thrown backwards to become the third person on a stack of two; the same again but turning a back somersault before landing. At one point there are six three-high stacks on stage. Interspersing the human towers, acrobats are thrown in multiple ways looking like leaping salmon. I find myself yearning for super-fast tumbling to disrupt the pace, as I saw in the Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger’s ‘KA-IN’.
The acrobats concentrate on their actions and not a word is said for the hour and a quarter, though an ambient soundtrack (that tends towards monotony) accompanies the show. It is clever in a mathematical way, a choreography of skills and shapes, but it is light on humanity and wit. It feels like an extended gymnastic floor display and to my mind would benefit from some editing to make it fifteen minutes shorter.
Having said that, the show received a standing ovation and my take on the show may be jaded, for the acrobatic content of French Collectif XY is not dissimilar to Australia’s Circa or Gravity and Other Myths (GOM), and I have seen two shows by each of these in the past year. All three ensemble companies – universally strong on building human towers – were founded around the same time: Circa in 2004, XY in 2005 and GOM in 2009. Of the three companies though, GOM have the edge for me as I like the sense of humour and personality that seems core to their work.
CREDITS
Concept & Performance Abdeliazide Senhadji, Airelle Caen, Alejo Bianchi, Arnau Povedano, Andres Somoza, Antoine Thirion, Belar San Vincente, Florian Sontowski, Gwendal Beylier, Hamza Benlabied, Löric Fouchereau, Maélie Palomo, Mikis Matsakis, Oded Avinathan, Paula Wittib, Peter Freeman, Seppe Van Looveren, Tuk Frederiksen, Yamil Falvella Artistic Collaboration Rachid Ouramdane, Jonathan Fitoussi, Clemens Hourrière Lighting Design Vincent Millet Costume Design Nadia Léon Acrobatic Consulting Nordine Allal Production & Tour Coordination Peggy Donck, Johanna Autran, Antoine Billaud Technical Support & Sound Claire Thiebault-Besombes
Production Compagnie XY Co-production Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf et La Brèche Cherbourg, Pôle National Cirque en Normandie; Le Phénix, Scène nationale – Pôle européen de création à Valenciennes; Maison de la Danse, Lyon; MC2, Grenoble; Tandem – Scène nationale; La Villette, Paris; Maison de la Culture de Bourges; TEAT Champ Fleuri (La Réunion); Agora –Pôle National Cirque Boulazac Aquitaine; Les Gémeaux Scène nationale de Sceaux; Bonlieu – Scène nationale d’Annecy; Carré Magique, Pôle National Cirque Bretagne, Lannion; Trégor / Espace des arts – Scène nationale de Chalon-sur-Saône; Le Bateau Feu – Scène nationale de Dunkerque; Espace Jean Legendre, Théâtre de Compiègne; Festival Perspectives Saarbrücken; La Coursive, Scène nationale de La Rochelle Residenzen Le Sirque – Pôle National Cirque Nexon Limousin; Furies – Pôle National Cirque, Châlons-en Champagne, Grand Est Region (with support from the National Centre for Circus Arts); Jules Verne – Pôle National Cirque et Arts de la Rue, Amiens; CCN – Grenoble; MC2 – Grenoble; Maison de la danse; Lyon; La Brèche – Pôle National Cirque en Normandie, Cherbourg; CIRCa Pôle National Cirque, Auch; Tandem – Scène nationale, Douai; Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf – Pôle National Cirque en Normandie; Le Phénix Scène nationale – Pôle européen de création à Valenciennes Supported by Region Haut-de-France; French Departement de Culture (DGCA); (since 2017) BNP-Paribas Foundation Associated Artists (since 2017) Phénix- Scène nationale de Valenciennes / Pôle européen de création; Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf – Pôle National Cirque in Normandie; depuis 2021 Théâtre National de la Danse, Chaillot; l’Espace des Arts, Scène nationale de Chalon-sur-Saône.
