CIRCUS - THEATRE - DANCE

Nour El Yacoubi is ageless. She wanted to be a dancer. Her family didn’t see her that way… A factual but fictional circus, intelligent and lively, with a message that provokes as much enthusiasm as thought.


Her name is Nour. She is one of nine children. Her parents are of Algero-Moroccan origin. Nour is not real, but through her story, interviews, music, and moments of dance, acrobatics and trampoline, she takes shape. She sketches out her singular destiny, oscillating between here and elsewhere, between her roots and her future, at the risk of breaking. The GdRA is a collective of slightly peculiar artists including an anthropologist, a musician and a Circassian [ou voulez-vous dire circus artist/performer, ou les 2?]. Their theatre is built as much from of ideas as bodies, from words as much as music. The GdRA has invented a performance that speaks of today and considers the spectator to be a witness at its side.

Conception, writing and staging, music: Christophe Rulhes
Created and interpreted by: Sébastien Barrier, Nedjma Benchaïb, Julien Cassier, Domi Giroud, Christophe Rulhes
Set design: Christophe Rulhes and Julien Cassier

Collecting images/sound, conducting interviews, editing: le GdRA 

Costumes: Céline Sathal

Production and lighting design: Adèle Grepinet

Production and sound design: Pedro Theuriet

Technical direction: David Löchen

Construction: Pierre Paillès and Bertrand Trocmé

Production-distribution: Jean-Sébastien Steil.

With contributions from Fatima Rahou, Aïcha Gourgane, Driss and Nor Jerboui, Nicolas Dussutour, Ms Sahnoun and the Association de Solidarité avec les Travailleurs Immigrés d’Arles.

Coproduction: Les Subsistances, Lyon

"Christophe Rulhes is the son of a farmer in the Aveyron region. He earned a degree in anthropology from EHESS and became a musician. Sébastien Barrier is the charlatan-juggler also known as Ronan Tablantec; and Julien Cassier is a circus artist who graduated from the C.N.A.C. They didn’t follow the same path, but they quickly realized their curiosity about others brought them together." 2010. Télérama.