Biography
The circus company ‘Un loup pour l’homme’, through its approach of acrobatic hand to hand balancing, aims at defending a vision of humanity made up of social individuals, as different as they are dependent from each other. Enamored of power and freedom, the acrobat appears relentlessly grappling with his own limits; standing the strain of his relation to the other, man reveals his greatness and weakness, the complexity of his human nature.
The origins of Un loup pour l’homme lie in the encounter between two acrobats, the French carrier Alexandre Fray, and the flying acrobat Frédéric Arsenault from Quebec. Triggered by two shows created under the direction of Guy Alloucherie, they decide in 2005 to initiate a specific research on their approach of hand to hand balancing. To them, these acrobatics are not only a raw material to give shape to, but primarily a strong relationship between two men.
For Un Loup pour l’Homme, more than a material to give shape to, hand-to-hand balancing is a language and a way to study human relations. The company believes that acrobatic art is about action rather than demonstration. It is an art form where the virtuosity of artists enables to understand mankind in a sensitive way. The group dynamic is always triggered by a voracious curiosity and the wish to put into question what seems to be taken for granted, not really to push one’s limits but rather to open the range of possibilities.
The first piece done by the company Appris par corps, built upon real-life experience and an extraordinary physical commitment, endeavors to stand for a vision of the art of circus that is conceived as art of action, in which acrobatic virtuosity works to benefit a search for humanity. This show was received with a keen interest by both audiences and professionals, and was performed 200 times in Europe and throughout the world.
The same human values drive the Grandmother Project that Alexandre started in 2006, which questions his carrier skills by being in contact with elderly people. Here the acrobatic gesture unveils a superb fragility, in the intimacy of the encounter between an old lady and an acrobat.
Strengthened by this success and experience, Un Loup pour l’Homme proposed a new creation in 2011, FACE NORD, which further develops the work already done beyond a duo performance. Four men explore a script full of rules and physical games, embarking the audience on an experience that establishes the origins of acrobatics within the innocence of childhood games.
In 2017, the team got back together and expanded around RARE BIRDS, a circular show based on the permanent transformation of movements in which, rather than fixing their positions, the six acrobats aimed to maintain imbalances.
In 2018, the team re-creates FACE NORD, this time with a female quatuor. This is the occasion to question artistic statement of the show and also to lighten technical conditions in order to perform in theaters with less equipment.
Ride&Camp, artistic itinerant project, brings the company on the roads of Balkans for several months in 2019, meeting energies, people and organisations who work for development of contemporary circus.
In 2020, Arno Ferrera and Mika Lafforgue premiere a duo called CUIR (“leather”, in French), around traction and attraction, using harnesses. From 2021 on, the Grandmother project is going back on the track of creation.
Un loup pour l’homme is also starting to work on production of its next circular show, DANS L’ESPACE, planned for 2022.
From September 2020 and for three years, Un loup is « associated artist » with La Faïencerie de Creil.
