DIJON: “The circus is a total spectacle”, enthuses the director of the Prize de CirQ festival
Until April 27, the Dijon association CirQ’ônflex offers a dense program of contemporary circus, presented on April 14 at the Eldorado cinema. This year, the festival even plays the extensions at the beginning of July.
Spring is here and the CirQ’ Prize festival is back. For the fourteenth year, the Dijon association CirQ’ônflex is back in Dijon and in the metropolis, to make discover and love the contemporary circus, its different forms and its multiple artistic influences.
This new edition also marks a turning point for the organizers since they will play extra time in the public space from July 2 to 9.
Let’s not forget to say that artists are once again taking over the Arquebuse garden this year. This was the case on April 15 and 16, as well as on April 21, 26 and 27 for the closing of this first part of the festival. Residences and workshops accompany the professional performances, the Dijon association continuing its cultural actions and its artistic education.
“Sharing culture in a joyful and intelligent way”
The screening of “The great adventure of Cirque Plume” launched the festival at the Eldorado cinema on Thursday April 14, 2022, in the presence in particular of Christine Martin, deputy mayor of Dijon in charge of culture, Marie-Guite Dufay, president of the Burgundy region -Franche-Comté, and François Dugourd, Deputy Vice-President of the Côte-d’Or Department.
“It’s a festival which, from its inescapable creation, has been able to welcome a large audience. Even if the language of the circus can sometimes be complex by flirting with other disciplines, it remains a popular art and the developer in the public space is a way of inviting the inhabitants, the children to attend shows to share the culture in a joyful and intelligent way”, underlined Christine Martin.
The three communities mentioned are among the main partners of a festival with a budget of 130,000 euros “which bring together an average of 7,000 people each year”.
Questions to Nathan Jannaud
artistic director of the festival
How to present the CirQ’ Prize festival?
“This festival is a highlight dedicated to contemporary circus creation, to today’s circus show which mixes theater as well as dance but also the plastic arts. We are now at the 14th edition, including two last editions that have been a little turned upside down.
The adventure began in rue Berbisey in 2009 and is still growing. It is a festival that travels through the Dijon metropolis and which allows audiences to meet. The transgenerational spirit is also cultivated through programming. All this diversity breaks the usual barriers of shows reserved for one age group.
Today’s circus is in high demand by families, but not only. You can even see the circus at the Opera.”
The success of CirQ’ônflex is to highlight circus that evolves with the times, right?
“Totally, it’s ignoring classic artistic labels and drawing inspiration from multiple influences. The circus has become a total spectacle which varies according to the creators, with different forms and proposals, sometimes very intimate, in circular, frontal, it depends on the companies.
Has the Covid crisis prompted certain companies, or certain festivals like yours, to readapt?
“Certainly. These two complicated years have asked us questions to do better without considering that everything is acquired. The advantage of the health crisis period is that we were able to schedule a little more in the summer, a little more outdoors. These are new possibilities to explore which made us say that the month of April, the historic month of the festival, is not written in stone and that we can complete the public and the artists at other times. The June-July period interests us for future editions. And why not settle in a second place a bit like the Arquebuse. But nothing is fixed.”
What are the main dates of the Prize de CirQ’ 2022 festival?
“It takes place until April 27 but we are also referring to what are called extensions of the festival, from July 2 to 9 at the Fontaine d’Ouche and Talant in particular.
For the first part of the festival, we started at the Eldorado and we will end in the garden of Arquebuse, passing by the Mansart theater, the Minoterie, the Steam, the city of Quetigny.
Who are the headliners of this edition?
“We have the Rasposo company which is currently playing its Oraison show in Quetigny (until April 23, under the marquee of the Mendès-France esplanade), which we were to host in 2020 and 2021. And then we will have “Le pas grand chose” by Johann Le Guillerm, a kind of pataphysical, playful conference, which tells in a pseudo-scientific way all his artistic research. A very offbeat conference that changes what we can see.
Proposed by Alix Berthier
Photos: Alix Berthier (unless specifically mentioned)
All the festival program
Photos: Edouard Barra