The artistic projects of the company Les Filles du Renard Pale are carried out by Johanne Humblet who is the creator and creates different forms of tightrope walking shows. His approach in art and in life is to always go further, overcoming one's limits, approaching them and rejecting them, all in a tenacious whirlwind of sharing, meeting and exchange.
Balanced, Johanne traces her passage on the suspended rope. He made his debut at the circus school of Brussells, he learned the circus arts at Espace Catastrophe, then in 2003 he left his homeland, Belgium, for Paris, where he carried out 4 years of professional training at theFratellini Academy.
Below, the interview released by Johanne Humblet for First Art.
Did you enjoy expressing your art at Chassepierre Festival in Belgium? How did you feel your steps on the rope with that night rain?
"Our Show"RESIST” is a 2019 creation and we had never performed before Chassepierre in the rain. It was kind of crazy to do that, because there's a lot of electricity in the show, between all the musician's sound material and the unstable structure of the wire.
The surprise was in the number of spectators who came to see the performance despite the rain, our desire is exactly to share these intense moments with our audience: on that rainy night we exceeded our limits by taking risks, this to respect the people who paid to attend our show. ”
Can you tell us something about your colleagues and your company in general?
“I created the company Les Filles du Renard Pâle with Virginie Fremaux, who is the company's graphic designer, while Violet Legrand she is the singer who performed with me in the RÉSISTE show.
The choreography on the rope is a research work that I did during the creation of this show, trying to find a new way of approaching the wire: for my artistic research I went through a flood of trials and errors, putting a strain on the my body, but with enthusiasm!
The music sector is also extremely important in all the company's projects. In RÉSISTE, the music was created by Deadwood (Violet Legrand e Jeremy Manche). I share with my colleague Violette a great complicity on stage although she is very different from me, we have opposite approaches, that's what makes us so rich. In the show, she brings balance: I am always willing to throw myself headlong into a new adventure while her character is more relaxed and also adds a touch of humor to the performance. We complete each other."
What were the most important steps in your career, the shows that transformed you into the tightrope walker you are today?
“I'm basically a rope walker on Low Heights. It's been 7-8 years instead since I became an Alto Filo walker, the difference between the two is the height and the balancing work.
I worked with several other companies before starting my own three years ago, and it's a young project but it's moving very quickly! These days I'm in full artistic bloom, I don't miss any challenge.
I made a 24-hour performance on Alto Filo in Chalon on the street, accompanied by the music of Johann Candore as a sort of melodic bond with the ground, we also recently did a 6-hour performance inside a swimming pool for the Cergy Soit Festival and a walk on Alto Filo in Moscow is also planned for this year.
I am a high-wire walker who loves moving into unfamiliar terrain, who likes to be surprised in order to surprise in turn. What matters to me in life are the encounters we have, they allow us to move forward, take risks and learn.”
What is the Art of Tightrope Walking for you? Can you tell us what you want to communicate through it?
“The walk on Alto Filo fascinates, inspires, impresses, leaves traces of its passage. When we do a big crossing in mid-air, this is often highly publicized and attracts crowds, I am aware of the responsibility I have for the impact my performance can have on the public.
My work and my research go in this direction, to take the public with me into unknown territory, to surprise them, to impress them…i leave messages behind every step i take in my career proving that we all can make our dreams come true, we must not stop at the beginning of the journey but instead sometimes dare and take the risk, to go further and further, on the tightrope as in life…”
What is the feeling you usually get when you spin in the air on a suspended rope Johanne?
“When we are at the top of a tightrope, we have to make the right movements, to be totally what we are doing, feeling, living the thread. I don't let anxiety or bad thoughts invade my mind up there, I control them, on the wire I feel free, unreachable, my senses are turned on.”
What about future projects? Have you ever performed in Italy?
“I haven't performed in Italy yet but we are starting to receive offers to come! We have many projects at stake: the show RESIST in its outdoor version (which will be presented indoors from January 2020), then there is the performance of Camminata su Alto Filo BREATHE and it is also important to finally mention the show FUNAMBULE IN SITU, these are all atypical forms of High Wire Walk that my company and I created together.
I like the idea that the wire can pass through any place and I like to wrap around any available place in our world of tightropes, music and surrealism to transport the audience elsewhere. The thread unites, impresses, is the connection that connects one point to another, beyond borders, barriers, beyond anything. A link that is as symbolic as it is concrete, the spectators go out into the street to roll their eyes: they are all there to experience that moment together, where dialogues, meetings and sharing begin on the unknown path of the thread. ”
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