A year after performing at Paleo, L’Elastique Citrique, Nyon’s circus school will be going on tour next week down the Vaud lakeside. The circus troupe, made of about 20 artists who train at the circus school several times a week will be on tour for a week, but there’s a twist: they’ll be touring aboard a boat!
La Demoiselle is a replica of an old sailing ship that used to transport rocks from quarries on the lake during the 19th century. There are for ships of her kind sailing on Lake Leman, including the Neptune in Geneva. The boat is run by an association called “La barque des enfants”, and it is used for pedagogical outings and camps on the lake. La Demoiselle was built over 15 years in Montreux and Villeneuve by workers on the dole, and is now used by schools and groups. As the association has quite strong social values, the boat is offered to associations and groups for half the price it actually costs to sail her for a week (which is 10 000 francs!), and they make the missing money by also renting the ship out for private venues and corporate outings.
The ship itself is 30 meters long, weighs 75 tons, and has two large Latin sails. It is fully equipped with a kitchen, toilets and 24 beds.
You may have seen the artists from L’Elastique Citrique at Paléo last year, clad in red, or performing in the streets of Nyon for Vision du Réel. This is part of their new project, “Famille de Cirque”, which is a much lighter project than past shows, and involves a lot of improvising and street theatre. For the tour, they have created a 40 minute show which they will play in the ports they land in along the lake. Using very little material (a large red circle, some juggling balls and two unicycles), they will offer a 360° show to the people come to see them. In the spirit of street performances, the show will be free, and the audience will be able show their appreciation of the show by slipping a few notes in the hats passed round at the end of the show. The show, called “La Vie en Rouge” [life in red, a pun on “La vie en Rose”, by Edith Piaf] will be all about relationships and passion. Why red, might you ask? Well, it’s the colour often associated to circus, and to different passionate feelings like love, anger… It is a recurring colour for L’Elastique Citrique.
The tour will start on Sunday across the lake in France, in the private settlement of Port Ripaille, on the 14th of July. La Demoiselle will then slowly make her way down to Nyon via La Tour de Peilz, Morges, St-Prex, and Geneva. You can find all the informations about the tour (dates, locations and time of the shows) below. Nyon Région TV, Nyon’s local television chain has done a video on the tour, which you can watch here. (first five minutes)
You can come and see L’Elastique Citrique on the following dates:
15th July – La Tour-de-Peilz – 20h30 at theBains-des-Dames
16th July – Morges – 20h30 at the Port du Petit-Bois
17th July – St-Prex – 17h et 20h30 at the Place d’Armes
19th July – Genève – 20h30 near the Jet d’eau opposite the Pierres du Niton
20th July – Nyon – 17h and 20h30 near the crane (east side of Rive)
