MARSEILLE, France — It has been a challenging season for the performing arts in many states, with virus lockdowns canceling shows and shuttering areas.
However, the planet’s top queen festival has discovered a means to flourish between the cracks from the principles — despite the enormous crowds that would normally have attended.
Over 110,000 people attended the previous BIAC, in 2019. This season it was up to 2,000 traffic, all professionals working in the circus or are seeking to purchase shows.
Even that’s a testament to the grit and determination of these organizers, who adapted their festival into the French government’ regulations and rules.
“We began with a strategy A, then plan B, then aim C, then aim D, and eventually we decided to perform strategy E that was a Biennale for professionals. This has been possible, we had been permitted to perform it,” explained BIAC organizer Raquel Rache de Andrade.
The heaps of performances featured upside-down tutus, acrobatic bikes, multicolored parachutes and sufficient contortionism to jolt a chiropractor.
Virus security signs put up in the port-side venue revealed a clown with red nose, bow tie and hide, along with the corresponding text:”Using a huge nose doesn’t exempt you from wearing one.”
In France, theatres, concert halls and other places are shuttered since Oct. 30 because of COVID-19. Before that, they had been closed out of mid-March to late June.
Nonetheless, it’s important to prove that culture is vital, based on Yoann Bourgeois, a dancer and choreographer who coached at the circus arts and is now the flagship artist of the year’s BIAC.
“The management of the crisis has had a very violent effect on artists musicians, individuals who devote their lives to civilization generally,” Bourgeois said. “It’s categorized what’s deemed nonessential or essential. We’re convinced that poetry is critical to live.”
