Recreation – Ariane(s) 2025

Shows on tour

The selection committee of the "Faire revivre" (Bringing Back to Life) call for projects, a programme offered by Archaos Pôle National Cirque, the City of Vitrolles and Le Pôle Arts en circulation de Revest-les-Eaux, has selected the revival project of Ariane(s), a duo on monumental ropes created in 2005 at the Atelier du Plateau (Paris).

Ariane(s) was born from the encounter between musician Hélène Breschand and aerial acrobat Cécile Mont-Reynaud, each with her own instrument: the harp for one, and for the other the so-called "fileuses" ropes, with their multiple strands arranged as curtains forming the soft walls of a labyrinth whose raw material is a 3-millimetre cotton thread – Ariadne's thread. In this maze of threads, the path must be invented anew each evening.

Even those unfamiliar with the story of the Minotaur can picture labyrinths, trials, monsters and heroes, and connect the thread to Ariadne. This imagery lies somewhere deep within us. It speaks to us of a quest, of exploring the unknown. Ariane(s): an aerialist in her ropes and a musician in hers, creating countless moments of tension, vibration, suspension and support. The labyrinth is approached not as a space of confinement but as a place of possible paths. A choreographic journey, an improvised musical and acrobatic face-off, made of ascents, crossings, detours… and sometimes knots… The sequences of the show, like episodes of an adventure, are drawn at random, creating a unique performance each evening.

A highly innovative form in 2005 – both for its immersive stage design, its relationship to the apparatus and the boldness of its writing – Ariane(s) was Compagnie Lunatic's first major show featuring the "fileuses" ropes. This original apparatus and aerial practice are now being passed on to Anna Weber, a rope artist who graduated from the Académie Fratellini in 2018, and to young harpist Elisa Balsamo.

Recreation – Ariane(s) 2025

Teaser – Ariane(s)

Film autour de Ariane(s) : Trois combats, de Charles Picq (SACD Numéro(s) Neuf(s), 2005)

Cast

Technical details