Baptiste Petit was born in 1996 in the north of France, into a family of three siblings.
When he was five, his parents decided to start a farm in the Gers region. He grew up among chickens and pigs in this rural department, discovering a life close to nature and the farming world, which remains deeply rooted in him.
At the age of seven, he discovered circus and joined the amateur school Pop Circus. There he experienced the joy of this art form: collectivity, adrenaline, and creation. From the ages of 13 to 17, he spent most of his time at the school, where he met Rémi Auzanneau, a lifelong friend and partner.
Living in Auch, he attended the Circa festival every year and saw many performances. It was then that he decided to follow the challenging path of circus.
At 17, after completing a literary baccalaureate, he joined the National School of Circus Arts in Rosny-sous-Bois (ENACR), where he began practicing Korean cradle, initially with six partners. The journey then continued with a group of four at the National Centre for Circus Arts (CNAC) in Châlons-en-Champagne.
The desire to create and share moments of life together grew stronger; Korean cradle became a means to tell stories and express ideas.
Encounters with directors such as Guy Alloucherie and Sophia Perez reinforced his belief that circus can be political and carry social values. He is drawn to circus for its collective dimension, its artistic potential, and the pleasure of daily practice.
Cie La Bête à Quatre – Collectif Bascule
The members of the future collective entered under the big top of the National School of Circus Arts (ENACR) in Rosny-sous-Bois in 2014. Driven by a shared desire to fly, seven of them decided to take up Korean cradle and partner acrobatics. They continued their training as a group of four at the National Centre for Circus Arts (CNAC) in Châlons-en-Champagne, where they constantly enriched their shared universe and technical range across different artistic fields.
Throughout their journey, several encounters proved decisive, particularly with Guy Alloucherie (Cie HVDZ) and Sophia Perez (Cheptel Aleikoum), who encouraged them in their pleasure of exploring and creating together. Their aim: to question and reinvent their apparatus in order to create a language unique to their world.
After a summer of street performances in 2017 and several shared experiences, the collective took shape and evolved into Cie La Bête à Quatre (Grrrr).
Centre National des Arts du Cirque