Publications and ICiMa Chair - "Gesture and movement" axis

CONTORTION

Extraits Contorsion, Ariane Martinez, publication Chaire ICiMa, Centre national des arts du cirque / CNAC de Châlons-en-Champagne Arianne Martinez (2021/12)

A history of extreme flexibility in the West, 19th–20th centuries
A contribution to a history of the body in contemporary times, this book explores contortion both as an acrobatic art and a gesture of the senses. Flexibility skills, their names and connotations have varied over time. These developments are indicative of a change in the way we look at physical practices in the West, contortion having been in turn denigrated, celebrated and championed as a means of experimentation.

Extracts Contorsion

Price €20 - Purchase Contorsion

DANSER l'APESANTEUR

Alternatives théâtrales (2021)
Kitsou Dubois

Between dance, circus and science, Kitsou Dubois experiments with a new approach to movement on board planes that recreate the conditions of the absence of gravity. She revisits the fundamental gestures of dance on the ground.
This experience is both wonderful and melancholy as it approaches a perfect dance state: that moment when all the tensions and forces involved come together to give a feeling of weightlessness.
This booklet conveys emotions, the feeling of being in an environment in which falling is no longer possible, in which you are pushed away when you touch something or someone.
A paradoxical relationship emerges between the perception of the body in weightlessness or on the ground.
It is also the story of a choreographic exploration to reverse balance between the weight of reality and the lightness of the imaginary. By combining circus and dance techniques with digital technologies, we discover a creative process that ranges from live performance and video installations to a type of teaching that links the body and movement to its environment.

Extracts Danser l'apesanteur

Price 18 € - Order Danser l'apesanteur

POETIQUES DE L'ILLUSION

Alternatives théâtrales (2018)

The inanimate puppets and figures dear to puppeteers, as well as the holograms or apparitions specific to magicians, roam the territories of illusion in different ways. How do these non-human beings-presences live on sets and stages where nothing is real? What do they reveal about our unquenchable need for illusion(s) ?

In this book co-published with THEMAA – Association nationale des Théâtres de Marionnettes et des Arts Associés (THEMAA - National Association of Puppet Theatres and Associated Arts), the Institut International de la Marionnette (International Puppet Institute) and the Centre national des arts du cirque for the ICiMa Chair, we explore the poetics of illusion by combining the words of illusionists and animators across various fields in addition to the work of magicians, mentalists, puppeteers, manipulators, playwrights and performers, scenographers and lighting designers..., also with those of thinkers in the contemporary scene or specialists in perception.

Excerpts in French Poétiques de l'illusion

Price 12 € - Order Poétiques de l'illusion

ENTRE LES CORPS - Une méthode émersive au CNAC

Editions L'Harmattan (2017)

Proceedings of the conference held on the 7th and 8th of October 2016 at the Centre national des arts du cirque
Under the direction of Bernard Andrieu and Cyril Thomas

Living art involves the body in the creation of an inter-body aesthetic: direct relationship with the public, exchanges between partners, emergence of intimate sensations. Through tactile contact of hands, bodies and skins, invisible information is activated in the nervous, hormonal and brain networks. Thus, artists identify themselves by the projection of their body space, which is based on empathetic sensitivity, emotional recognition and motor resonance.Bernard Andrieu is a professor of Sports Social Sciences (STAPS) at the University of Paris-Descartes and director of the EA 3625 TEC. The book is supported by the GDRI836CNRS Body Ecology by Physical Adapted Sportive Activities.

Cyril Thomas is Head of Research and Development at the Cnac, co-holder of the ICiMa Chair.

Price 24 € / 17,99 € in digital version - Order Entre les corps

LEARNING FROM YOU BODY - An emersive method at the CNAC

Editions PURH - “Body ecology and sport environments” collection
Bernard ANDRIEU - Translated by Catherine SCOTT (2018)

Learning from your living body is now possible. This book brings together films recorded on GoPro cameras, complied on a DVD produced by Raoul Bender, our photographs taken at training sessions and our interviews with artists from the National Centre for Circus Arts (Centre national du cirque, CNAC) in Châlons-en-Champagne.
Each person can recognise three types of movements in their bodies: the involuntary, gestures integrated by techniques and learning, and intentional gestures.
This book is about the analysis of these movements.
Bernard Andrieu, a philosopher, is a professor at Paris Descartes University, Director of the Body Technics and Issues Laboratory (TEC EA 3625) and coordinator of GDRI 836 CNRS.

Excerpts Learning from your body

Price Book + DVD 25 € - Order Learning from your body

Benesh movement notation for circus arts

The Centre national du cirque/CNAC has made the notation of circus arts into an important part of its research. The establishment of the ICiMa Chair places this activity within a broader research on notation tools and scoring of performing arts.
With Katrin Wolf, choreologist, the CNAC has developed the Benesh notation for circus arts. Katrin trained at the CNSMDP (Conservatoire supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris) in the 2000s. She carried out her research on the basis of a notation created by Rudolf Benesh in 1955 to transcribe the human movement, mainly applied to dance movements.
Circus arts notation is part of the process of creating a written circus heritage, enriching the circus repertoire. By leaving a written trace, scores allow performers to repeat passages and create a new way of conveying information to circus artists.
The Benesh Movement Notation for circus arts is also a tool to accompany creation.

These Benesh Notation booklets edited by CNAC with the support of the ICiMa Chair outline the progress of research in different circus disciplines, starting from individual artistic projects by CNAC students presented to the public in ÉCHAPPÉES :
- the "Carnet de recherche" (Research Booklet) 1 (2016) and 2 (2017) introduces the method and objectives,
- the following notation booklets are devoted to a specific circus discipline:
Straps: issue created by Dimitri Rizzello/27th intake at CNAC (2016)
Acrobatic bases: issue by Anaïs Albisetti and Pedro Consciencia/27th intake at CNAC (2017)
Chinese pole: issue by Cathrine Lundsgaard Nielsen/27th year at CNAC (2018)