Exquisite Corpse

Play for one performer and eleven directors

Based on the model of “Exquisite Corpse - Cadavre Exquis”, a collective writing game invented by the surrealists in 1925, eleven directors (choreographers, videographers, stage directors, in the street, in the ring, etc.) were invited to direct a single circus performer: Elodie Guézou.

In this solo, each director created a 5-minute artistic form. Each received the same rules of the game on the theme of "identity and the gaze of the other", knowing only the last ten seconds of the previous proposal.

Each director becomes the leader in play, the leader of the “I”.

Exquisite Corpse questions the condition of the performer and provokes an encounter, an experience that plays on identity projections.

Artistic team

Concept, interpretation, and dramaturgy : Elodie Guézou

Players:
– Yaëlle Antoine (Director – Feminist Circus)
– Matthias Castegnaro (Director – Videographer)
– Florence Deygas (Visual designer)
– Mohamed El Khatib (Director – Documentary theater)
– Yann Frisch (Director – New Magic – Clown)
– Raphaëlle Latini (Sound artist – choreographer)
– Tatiana Matre (Director – Singer – composer)
– Marlène Rostaing (Choreographer)
– Alexandre Pavlata (Director – Comedy theater – Clown)
– Alexander Vantournhout (Circographer)
– Nicolas Vercken (Director – Urban space theatre)

Lighting and video design: Alex Hardellet, Arnaud Pierrel

Sound environment: Gentien de Bosmelet

Artistic collaborator: Marine Jardin and Aurélie Dujarrier

Costume designers: Natalia Galina, Romane Labroche

Associated photographer: Nikolas Nidimages

Thanks: Frederic Alaven, Franck Bernard, Brock, Marianne Gauthier-Destable, Dimitri Hatton, Marianne Jamet, Daniel Kenigsberg, Kevin Matagne, Frederic Alaven…

A Collective Exploration of Identity Through Circus

Exquiste Corpse is a unique piece in the contemporary circus landscape, performed by performer Elodie Guézou and produced in collaboration with eleven directors with varied artistic approaches . Inspired by the surrealist literary concept of the "exquisite corpse", where each participant adds a part to a work without knowing the whole, this collective creation offers a bold reflection on the condition of the performer, the place of the body in art and the multiplicity of views on identity .

On stage, a single performer embodies multiple artistic visions in turn. Each director was invited to create a five-minute sequence, based solely on the last ten seconds of the previous proposal. This device creates a show composed of fragments, where each look is singular and each discipline brings a new texture: circus, dance, magic, theater, sound art, video ... The performer's body thus becomes a field of experimentation , a meeting place between artistic languages that overlap and respond to each other.

One of the main challenges of Exquisite Corpse is to question the way in which the performer can reappropriate her role, often defined by the vision of a director, to finally deal with the different views that are cast on her. Elodie Guézou , through this performance, highlights the challenges of the circus performer , oscillating between adapting to others and the quest for her own space of expression . The show thus invites the spectator to a sensory and intellectual experience, where the interaction between the different artistic points of view becomes a mirror of the questions about identity and otherness.

The play is not only an artistic dialogue , it is also a living laboratory of the creative process . At the end of the show, spectators are invited to discover the behind the scenes of the project through an exhibition retracing the stages of this collaboration between the eleven directors and the performer . Notebooks, audio recordings, drawings and other materials collected during the creation are made available, offering a fascinating insight into the reflections that informed the play.

With Exquisite Corpse, the AMA Company, under the artistic direction of Elodie Guézou, explores the boundaries of contemporary circus. By questioning the relationships between the artist and his work, between the body and its role , this piece offers an intimate artistic journey, which reflects the richness and diversity of human experiences.

Duration: 1h10
Audience: All ages from 8 years old
Language: French, with English and Spanish subtitle options
Location: Indoor (Theater or tent) or outdoor (night)

AllCulture.com

" Exquisite Corpse - Cadavre Exquis is a stimulating and intriguing proposition. It gives an insight into freedom within constraints, documents the creative process, and is educational at the same time as it is simply a work of art. "

ScèneWeb.com

"Elodie Guezou is 12 circus women. [...]
The designer and performer of the piece embodies the plural face that the new circus is displaying today. [...]
By exhibiting all the artistic layers that constitute her as a performer, she comes together. She asserts a multiple personality, driven towards analysis as much as towards risk. "

Partners

Production: AMA Company

Co-productions:

Plateforme 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie / La Brèche à Cherbourg (50) et le Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf (76)
Le Carré Magique, Pole Cirque Bretagne (22)
La Verrerie d’Alès / Pôle National Cirque Occitanie (30)

Supports:

L’arrondi, lieu de création à Soulaires (28) Théâtre de Saint Lô (50)
Fours à chaux de Regnèville sur Mer en partenariat avec le Conseil Départemental de la Manche (50)
Cité du Cirque pour le Pôle régional Cirque Le Mans en partenariat avec La Fonderie - Le Mans (72)
Espace Périphérique de Paris (75)

Institutional support:

Ville de Rouen
Département de Seine Maritime Région Normandie

Private support:

43 donors in the context of crowdfunding