As an instructor leading a workshop on the Feldenkrais Method:
“I have been a tightrope walker for 20 years.
My home is the circus, the spectacular, the surpassing of limits, the risk, the great incredible.
With the Feldenkrais Method, I have discovered another approach to possibilities, from the unnoticed, the forgotten, the small that makes the big. I have found an organic way to bring life to my technique and open unknown doors in the search for new forms and ways.
It has allowed me to refine my stage proposals without imposing a form, to become more complicit with my body and my mind.”
Katell Le BrennAfter completing a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Science and Techniques, she turned her focus to circus arts and trained at the Regional Circus Arts Center in Lomme, specializing in hand balancing and contortion under the guidance of Yaqin Deng. She furthered her training with Claude Victoria and Pascal Angelier.
She portrayed Lucile in Molière’s “Le Médecin Volant” with the Avis de Tempête Company under the direction of Jean-Jacques Faure, and Cheyenne in “La Grande Faim dans les Arbres” with Les Fous de Bassan, directed by Christian Sterne.
She performed as an acrobat in “Le Chant du Dindon” with the Rasposo Company led by Marie Molliens, and acted in “Tabac Rouge” with the Hanneton Company directed by James Thiérrée.
She danced in “Le Château de Barbe-Bleue,” an opera by Béla Bartók, directed by Aurélien Bory. Additionally, she appeared as an acrobat in “Espæce” with the 111 Company directed by Aurélien Bory, and in “Barrière” with the Bêstîa Company led by Wilmer Marquez.
Simultaneously, she has been involved in authoring projects with the Allégorie Company, including “Léonce,” “Dispersion,” and, in collaboration with David Coll Povedano, “cOLLiSiOn,” “LOOking fOr,” “Des Nuits pour Voir le JOur,” and the upcoming “(En)vers nos Pères.”
Stefan KinsmanEsther Freixa RafolsIn 2005, she graduated in Dramatic Arts from the Theatre Institute of Barcelona. Between 2006 and 2009, she continued her training in dance and physical theater in Catalonia and Berlin, studying under various artists and companies. From 2010 to 2012, she regularly trained in Body Weather with Andrés Corchero-Rosa Muñoz and Biovoz with Víctor Turull, deepening her work in 2015 on “The Body of the Voice.” Additionally, since 2005, she has practiced yoga, meditation, and Vedic chanting, and since 2012, she has traveled to South India to learn the martial art Kalaripayattu with the Hindustan Kalari Sangam and Kalarigram.
She collaborates as a performer with various companies and independent artists, and since 2007 she has collaborated with actor, researcher, and director Toni Cots. Between 2011 and 2015, she participated in a regular laboratory on collaborative practices based on the body with other artists and interested individuals, which they resumed in 2020 until today. With Toni Cots, she has created the solo pieces “Médée (à la carte)” presented since 2009 with over 150 performances, “30 ans, un acte poétique de résistance” presented since 2015 with 26 performances, and in November 2023 they will create their third piece ‘Errancia, paysages de mémoire’.
Similarly, she provides artistic support for several stage creators, directs various projects, teaches courses, workshops, and classes on the body, movement, and voice, and applies her individual research according to the needs of each individual.
Since 2015, she has introduced the practice of Kalaripayattu in Spain through regular classes, intensive workshops, and retreats where she integrates Kalari with other disciplines such as meditation, Vedic chanting, yoga, and explorations of the body and nature.
She has performed and taught workshops in Spain, Italy, Germany, England, the Netherlands, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Lebanon, and India.
Since 2006, she has managed various spaces supporting the creation, research, training, and exhibition of performing arts in her hometown of Mollet del Vallès, near Barcelona. She is a founding member of CRA’P – practices of artistic creation and research.
Website links: www.cra-p.org www.medealacarta.org www.treintaños.org
Michel CerdaAs a theater director since 1986, I have found myself drawn to playing with others as well as with myself, leading me to diversify my work as a director and engage in artistic collaborations with circus, dance, contemporary magic, and puppetry companies.
I am also interested in actor training (text and improvisation with clowning) and directing, and have conducted workshops and interventions in institutions such as TNS, ENSATT, and FEMIS. I have served as a practitioner at the Department of Performing Arts at the University Paris Ouest-Nanterre La Défense and as an associate professor at Aix/Marseille University.
My recent theater productions include Synge’s “La Source des Saints” in 2017 at Studio-Théâtre de Vitry and La Commune in Aubervilliers CDN, followed by performances at T2G in Gennevilliers and La Joliette in Marseille, where I currently reside.
My most recent collaboration as a dramaturge and director in circus was “A Ciel Ouvert” with Cirque Aïtal in September 2022.
This year, I will be offering a workshop on dramaturgy and stage techniques to our first-year students.
Vincent Van TilbeurghAt the age of 14, I discovered my “calling” by attending a show, igniting a passion for live performance within me. For 17 years, I worked as a lighting technician, primarily in dance and theater. In 2000, my life took a turn when I discovered circus, first at CNAC for 4 years, then in Rosny-sous-Bois for 11 years. As someone who traverses mountains in search of verticality, serenity, and beauty, it was only natural that my encounter with circus changed my life. I found more authentic human connections there, as well as the physical engagement akin to mountaineering and rope work.
The term “technical director” has always sounded strange to me; I see myself more as a Swiss army knife, a boundary setter, a door opener, a facilitator, ready to tackle the improbable challenge of creating a show. In 2017, I chose to work as an independent contractor, collaborating with companies and organizations such as the Libertivores Company, the CABAS Company, and the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain.
I enjoy the concentration, the nerves, the emotion, the human contact, the adrenaline, and the beauty, whether on a stage or on mountain cliffs. For the past five years, while working with companies, I’ve enjoyed collaborating with teams that make me believe a new world is possible!
Matthias TempetteMatthias Tempette is an artist graduated in Chinese pole and unicycle from the Carampa Circus School in Madrid and a former student of ENACR where he learned circus-related techniques. With 10 years of artistic and technical experience, he now intervenes at ESAC during the Exit sessions alongside Vincent Van Tilburg.
Benjamin Renard