Gynoïdes Project begins with the hypothesis that female agency in circus art is subjected to oppression that takes roots in the foundation of the circus practices itself. The Bêta Test has been an occasion to examined the components of the circus practice aiming to generate modes of composition that can challenge the normative mechanisms and support the emergence of alternative representations of women in circus arts. Each Bêta Test has inquired the participatory practice of a woman-centred circus making, and explores narrative shapes and tactics in the creation of meanings in circus. Each Bêta Test consisted of a period of research in studio, composition and international public display. The Bêta Test allowed us to develop strategies for the DeCONstruction, ReCONnaissance and ReCONstruction of the circus act from a female perspective.
"Through investigations called Gynoïdes Bêta Test we examine the foundation of circus practice: What if there were no costume, no ”extra” props, no scenography, no story? What if there were our only body and simply our own circus based feminine energy? What lies beyond the demonstration of skills? What does our abnormal circus actions suggest, what does the circus apparatus has to say? What does circus women’s has to say? The Gynoïdes Project intention is to avoid artifice and rely on the raw material that is inherent to the circus practice."
Marie-Andrée Robitaille, artistic leader, Gynoïdes Project 2012.
"The Gynoïdes Project intention is to avoid artifice and to rely on the raw material that is inherent to the circus practice."
Bêta Test X
Bêta Test IX
Bêta Test VIII
January, February 2015
3 weeks Lab with a public display at the circus fair Subcase
Main Research focusses
Integration of a voice and live acoustic music, sound computing technology, pre-recorded music
Use of new miniature sensors on the bodies
Group versus individuality
Equipment as set design and extended body part
Egg-System
Artists:
Claudel Doucet, Aerial tissu
Manda Rydman, contortion, aerial hoop
Annie L’Archevêque Smith, Floor acrobatics
Marianna De Sanctis, Hula Hoop
Nella Niva and Sanni lehtinen, Doubel trapeze
Anna-Maria Hefele, overtone singer, musican harp and nickel harpan
Maurizio Goina, Sound designer, composer, musician
Alexander Eldefors, Sound designer, composer and sound technician
Lumination, Light design
Jacob Westin, Rigging
Marie-Andree Robitaille Choreographer/researcher
Bêta Test VII
November-December 2014
3 weeks laboratory work with final public display followed by exhange with the audience moderated by Margareta Sorenson, art critic and writer at Expressen and Danstidningen.
Main research focusses:
Acoustic capture of the sound
Infrared-motion capture
The circus props as extention of the body
Circularity
Artists:
Klara Mossberg, Aerial Ring and tight wire.
Alluana Ribeiro, Sway pole, handstand, contortion
Lisa Eckert, Cyr Wheel, floor Acrobatics
Chantelle Scott, Composer, musician, DJ
Niclas Lindgren, Sound designer, composer, musician
Maurizio Goina, Sound designer, Composer, musician
Marie-Andrée Robitaille, Choreographer/researcher
Lea Firus Norrman, assistant and coordinator
Mira Unde, Rigging, Internship
Bêta Test VI
Bêta Test V
Bêta Test IV
Bêta Test III
Bêta Test II
2012
Residency Lab at Le Prato, Pôle National des Arts du Cirque, Lille, France.
Public Display, Festival elles en rient encore, Le Prato, Pôle National des arts du cirque, Lille, France.
Main Research focusses
Women’s voice and sound environment; opera and DJ Circus equipment as core of scenography.
Artists
Kajsa Bohlin, dance acrobatics
Niklas Blomberg, DJ
Line Broden, slack rope,
Tiziana Prota, low swing rope
Bêta Test I
2011
Laboratory work
DOCH, School of Dance and Circus, Stockholm
Public Display: la piste aux espoir, Tournai, Belgium.
Main research focusses
In this Bêta Test we start to raise the question of the circus vocabulary, more precisely the one of the women in circus. We examine the component of the circus practice and play with the notion of neutrality. The project disengages with the artifice of traditional circus; find its position on the code of contemporary circus. The aim is to develop a consciousness of what we suggest on stage and through circus
Supported by: DOCH, La Pistes aux Espoirs
Artists
Lisa Matilda Angberg, handstand
Julien Auger, music
Regina Baumann, vertical rope
Niklas Blomberg, music
Kajsa Bohlin, dance acrobatic
Linn Broden, slack rope
Marie-Andrée Robitaille, Artistic leader/researcher
