Clinging to the pendulum, Camille advances cautiously on a Kevlar thread stretched above the ground. “Raise your head,” whispers Tatiana Mosio-Bogonga as she helps the 9-year-old girl balance herself. A few meters further on, Jan Naets reassures little Shel’sy: her mismatched socks won’t prevent her from walking in the air.
Since their arrival in Auray a week ago, the two founders of Basinga Gard company transformed the Parco-Pointer priority neighborhood into an open-air circus. Every day, from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., they stretch cables at the Oasis and teach Alréens to play tightrope walkers. The goal: to make them participate in their show, which will launch the new cultural season of the Athena on September 25th.
A tightrope walker in town
For this performance entitled “Crossing”, Tatiana, the tightrope walker of the troupe, will cross the Parco-Pointer district on a wire 15 m above the ground and without a safety lanyard. But before this dizzying feat, volunteers from Alré will also be able to put on a costume, play a character and walk on a wire in front of spectators.
“Basinga means ropes in Lingala: it refers to tightrope walking, but also to the links we weave,” explains Jan, the company’s manager. “When we do a show, we settle in for two weeks and we set up workshops so that the inhabitants of the neighborhood can take part in the show. No need for special skills: we teach you everything! »
“A form of active meditation”
This Thursday, September 15, Tatiana introduces her discipline to the CE2 and CM1 classes of the Gabriel-Deshayes school. Sitting in the grass, the children are impatiently waiting for their turn. “We learn to walk in the sky”, enthuses Malou, 9 years old. “But I would like to know how to move on without standing like Tatiana! »
“It’s very important for me to share my passion,” smiles the 38-year-old acrobat. “I grew up in a tough neighborhood, and yarn helped me a lot. It is a form of active meditation, which helps to gain self-confidence. It’s a tool that I want to pass on to others. »
Sewing, theater and pompoms
A few numbers away, at 24, rue François Mitterrand, workshops around costumes and photography take place. The company’s loan apartment is overflowing with colorful fabrics and sequins. Here, all the costumes are handmade and with volunteers. “These workshops are very intergenerational,” adds Louisa, the costume designer. “We have as many elderly people who do embroidery as children who come to invent their stage character”.
The day before, the young woman piloted a delicate operation: the freezing of 400 pompoms to treat them against moths. “Bakeries lent us their freezers to save our pompoms,” she laughs. “The life of an artist is not always as we imagine it! »
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Auray – “We walk in the sky”: in Auray, tightrope walkers animate a sensitive neighborhood
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