RAFAEL DE PAULA knows Rennes and the Théâtre du Vieux St Étienne well, having already worked in residency there for his first production, Vigilia (2014), presented the following year during Temps Fort des Arts du Cirque, organised by the Rennes-based circus arts association, AY-Roop. Through his organisation, la Compagnie du Chaos (based in Châlons-en-Champagne), the Brazilian artist continued to explore the Chinese pole with Nebula (2016), an immersive and graceful blend of visual arts and circus, performed with Ania Buraczynska. In 2017, he returned to Le Vieux St Étienne for a new residency, to write and prepare NONADA, his latest opus, this time a solo production, but once again dedicated to the Chinese pole.

“This new piece originated with a need to return to simplicity and strip things down to the core. I hope to bring a new perspective to choreographic writing for the Chinese pole on the stage, and create an intimate connection with the audience, in a kind of partnership,” explains RAFAEL DE PAULA. In a deliberate departure from the complex technical sound and light constraints in Nebula, he develops a contemplative, sensory and abstract experience, seeking to draw out meaningful primal emotions within the spectator. Somewhere between metaphorical body expression and a balancing act, NONADA creates direct dialogue between the circus artist and his apparatus in a friendly multi-faceted encounter between man and the pole, taking the audience along for the journey.
For this third production from the young Franco-Brazilian company, Tombées de la Nuit continues to delve into the circus discipline of the Chinese pole, (following on from Compagnie Bivouac in 2016, the Franco-Portuguese company O Ultimo Momento in 2015, Collectif AOC in 2012…) for an intimate virtuoso performance that places the spectator at the centre of the emotional exchange hanging in the balance.