Photo: Florian Hetz
Artistic direction: Arno Ferrera, Gilles Polet
Project development: Anaïs Longiéras
Technical direction: Pierre-Jean Pitou Faggiani
Authors/performers: Arno Ferrera, Gilles Polet and Charlie Hession
Creative Team: Bauke Lievens, Renée Corpraij, Gaia Saitta, Frédéric Arsenault and Matthieu Goeury
Light design: Anthony Merlaud
Sound creation: Raphaëlle Latini
Costumes: Kasia Mielczarek
Photographer: Florian Hetz
Video: Nicky Lapierre
Booking: Anaïs Longiéras / diffusion.armour@gmail.com
Delegated production: Les Halles de Schaerbeek (Brussels, BE)
PRODUCTION
Les Halles de Schaerbeek (BE)
COPRODUCTION
Le Bateau Feu, Scène nationale de Dunkerque (FR)
Culture commune - Scène nationale du bassin minier du Pas-De Calais (FR)
Central, La Louvière (BE) / Dommelhof, Neerpelt (BE)
La Maison de la Culture, Tournai (BE)
Le Sirque, Pole National Cirque, Nexon (FR)
Plateforme 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie - La Brèche, Cherbourg (FR)
Viernulvier, Gand (BE)
Le Prato, Pôle National Cirque, Lille (FR)
Festival Perspectives, Sarrebrück (DE)
Fonds Transfabrik, fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant
Le Tandem Scène Nationale
La Coop asbl + Shelter Prod with the support of taxshelter.be, ING and taxshelter du gouvernement fédéral belge
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Féderation Wallonie-Bruxelles, Service Général de la Création Artistique – Service des Arts Forains, du Cirque et de la Rue (BE)
LaGeste (Les ballets C de la B + kabinet k), Gand (BE)
Le centre culturel suisse - CCS Paris (FR)
Pianofabriek, Bruxelles (BE)
“It is not true that men are unwilling to change. It is true that many men are afraid to change. It is true that masses of men have not even begun to look at the ways patriarchy keeps them from knowing them- selves, from being in touch with their feelings, from loving.
To know love, men must be able to let go the will to dominate. They must be able to choose life over death. They must be willing to change.”
bell hooks
Photo: Florian Hetz
ARMOUR is a threesome of acrobatic lifts that explores issues of masculinity and virility, with the desire to offer a new perspective.
This highly physical performance is at the service of a relationship with others based on listening, trust and welcoming intimacy.
Starting from the notion of (over)protection that leads to violence, the three performers will confront the toxic aspects of virility to open up a space of necessary fragility, and reach states where gentleness, eroticism and self-mockery find their place, in a joyful complicity with the audience.
RESOURCES
“Patriarchal mores teach men a form of affective stoicism, according to which they would be all the more virile for not feeling anything; but if by chance they were to feel something, and these feelings hurt them, the virile response would be to stifle them, to forget them, to hope they would go away. (...) When we participate in the patriarchal socialization of men, which leads them to deny their feelings, we condemn them to live in a state of emotional numbness, because it is im- possible to cure a feeling that is not ex- perienced. We are constructing a culture where male suffering remains voiceless, where it cannot be named or healed.”
bell hooks
TECHNIQUE
AND SCENOGRAPHY
We aimed to find a balance between a small footprint, proximity to the audience, a reasonable size and modularity.
We work in a tri-frontal set-up and creating a proximity between the stage and the room. The stage represent a reassuring and intimate closed space. It also refers to the three artists present on stage.
The bleachers and seating will be provided by the organizers: the theatres or festivals.
This will make it much easier to adapt the set-up to the different venues according to their technical characteristics. For example, the use of the existing tier in certain rooms is perfectly feasible to create a part of the tri- frontal system. All technical equipment (lights and sound) will be placed on the floor, no hangings are necessary.