RECLAIM

The future is not what will happen to us, but what we will do.

RECLAIM is the last T1J’s creation.
Dates of creation: 7 to 11 March ’23 at our main co-producer : les Halles de Shaerbeek in Brussels (BEL).
Number of performances: 46
 
He received the award for ‘Best Circus Show’ at the 2023 Maeterlinck Critic’s Choice Awards
 
What is offered with RECLAIM is not a show, but a collective experience inspired by the Ko’ch ritual. The Tajik and Uzbek societies, which are very restrictive for women, have adapted the Ko’ch to a specific need, that of allowing them to support the oppressive and distressing yoke of the society where they are physically and psychologically confined. The evolution of the ritual is today the work of women, who, because of the oppression they suffer, need this outlet. Indeed, the function of baxshi in sedentary Central Asia has been feminized. Today, nearly three-quarters of shamans are women.

 

RECLAIM is an imaginary ritual freely inspired by the Ko’ch in Central Asia, where women try to build an egalitarian relationship with men with the aim of creating a fairer world for future generations. What we are proposing here is not a show, but a collective experience. This project is seen as a necessity, a form of secular prayer. It’s an extraordinary moment to be experienced as a return to the circus of its origins, characterised by savagery, circles, strangeness, sometimes monstrosity, hyper proximity and fear. A lyric singer, two cellists and five circus performers in acrobatic lifts are literally surrounded by the stands and the audience, in a disturbingly close proximity.
 
RECLAIM is an act of resistance that means being able to recover and reclaim what has been separated from us.
 
“The future is not what happens, but what we do”.

INFOS

  • TIME : 60 MINUTES
  • FROM : 14 YEARS
  • 8 ARTISTS
  • ROOM VERSION AND TENT VERSION

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  • T1J is a company contract programmed by the FWB (circus arts)


CAST

  • Lyric singer : Blandine Coulon
  • Cellists : Claire Goldfarb and Eugénie Defraigne
  • Acrobats: Chloé Chevallier, César Mispelon, Lisandro Gallo, Joaquin Diego Bravo and Paul Krügener
  • Scenography and costume design : Oria Puppo
  • Puppet: Polina Borissova
  • Masks: Isis Hauben
  • Iron work: Jean-Marc Simon
  • Production of the painted canvas: Eugénie Obolensky
  • Choreographic work : Dominique Duszynski
  • Stage assistant: Lola Chuniaud
  • Light creation: Frédéric Vannes (version salle) & Emily Brassier (version chapiteau)
  • General control and light control : Adrien De Reusme
  • Photographer: Danny Willems
  • Cooker: Géraldine Py

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  • Thanks to Malia Bendi Merad, Javier Swedzky, Jean-François Lejeune, Marina Simonova for their precious artistic collaboration

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  • Writing and directing : Patrick Masset

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  • Co-producers : les Halles de Schaerbeek - Brussels (Belgium), le Maillon - Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène Européenne (France), Le Vilar - Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), the Palais des Beaux-Arts - Charleroi (Belgium), UP - Circus & Perfoming Arts (BEL)

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  • Supports: MAD Festival à Anvers, Centre Culturel de Bièvre, de Theater op de Markt/Dommelhof à Neerpelt, le CAS, le WBI, la Loterie Nationale (FWB), la Région Wallonne et WBTD


Reclaim in the Scotsman: "A seasoned circus-goer rarely gets to say 'I've never seen that before'. You will here". (Kelly Apter)
Reclaim in La Libre: "A lyrical, powerful and carnal ode to the circus: spellbinding and highly acrobatic". (Laurence Bertels)
Reclaim in Zone Critique: "(...) tilts us into a powerful in-between: a world of the sensitive, on the border between sleep and wakefulness, darkness and light, where we can let the currents flow through us". (Émilie Ade)