History
Archived shows
Physalis
Definition; Physalis: plant of the nightshade family (Solanaceae - including tomatoes, potatoes, aubergine/egg plant, bell and chilli peppers etc.), also called Inca berry, Cape gooseberry, groundcherry, Japanese lantern or (in French) “love in a cage” (l’amour en cage)…
Neige de feu [Snow of Fire]
In the course of my itinerant journey through life, I have met many humans, with their different languages and cultures. They have brought home to me my own mixed origin
This show is conceived as both a life-story and a new breath; above all, it is a language that I venture to call “universal”. Everyone, in their own tongue, with their own eyes and in their own heart can draw on the same communicative source - fire.
Fire evokes the fears and joys that we all share and that are mapped out in the figures that I dance - here, the centre, the circle and the cross. These are ancient symbols, and I have always believed that, as such they need to be brought back to life. Through fire and dance, I replay these signs of our common heritage. In every age, people have associated fire with love, with purification or with punishment. Fire can destroy or sublimate. It can be hell or the holy spirit. It evokes the heart, the warmth of humanity and the blaze of passion pulsating in our chest....
Statement of intent (extract) L.C.
Lara Castiglioni
In charge with the artistic line of the company Entre Terre & Ciel.
Woman, actor, dancer, circus artist, fire and object manipulator.
Turning to art and poetry to re-engage our presence in the world, the combined expressions of dance, theatre and music speak a diverse and universal language, where every word is reconnected to our experience.
After developing her work with other professional companies for more than ten years, focusing mainly on the notions of virtuoso performance and aestheticism, this multi-disciplinary artist, on her nomadic trail through many cultures, felt the need to requestion herself and her role and to stretch beyond all the forms and genres she had so far encountered. So, in 2006, she created Compagnie Entre Terre & Ciel (the name of the company means both “Between Earth & Sky” and “Between Earth & Heaven”). With the aid of this structure, as the creator, manager and actor of her own projects, she has been able to more closely define her specific artistic identity and its uniqueness of both form and content.
“Starting from archetypes and the mediating function of ‘symbol systems’, my creative work draws its inspiration from the act of ritual. I experiment and research the idea of the connection, intersection and interrelation existing between order and disorder, as condensed in the notion of ritual. This openness to the depths of the human psyche and to the question of universality is the vector of my search for an atmosphere, for remarkable materials and objects, as the basis for a “rituality” and a “correspondence” between meaning and forms of representation.
Ritual, the elements, the world of symbols, aesthetics and the subservience of matter to dream are affinities common to every creation of Cie Entre Terre et Ciel. For me, it is important to emphasize the full inner dimensions of each movement, its relation to meaning and to the breath of life, and to “ritualize” every instant of the show. In my creations, I rely on the juxtaposition of contrasting materials, the dialogue between Earth and the Heavens and the four fundamental elements”.
Lara Castiglioni