Beat, tricks and fun show

P: When I was little, I was always moving around and manipulating objects to keep myself busy.
I later understood that I have hyperactivity syndrome , and also hypersensitivity , which are linked to my high intellectual potential laminar profile .
At 6 years old I wanted to be a magician and I was fascinated by juggling.
When I discovered the diabolo at 11 years old , I immediately saw a very interesting object to study (imagine the figures) and a good way to channel my hyperactivity .
Knowing how to juggle is a form of superpower, few people have this power and it is an enormous power, which allows you to instantly gain the admiration and sympathy of any stranger.

P: I have juggled (diabolo, balls, clubs, etc.) every day since I was 11 .
At computer engineering school in Bordeaux , I founded and ran a juggling club, which allowed me to juggle 1 to 2 hours a day during my studies.
After school, during my permanent engineering contract, I founded Jonglargonne , a juggling association which took place at the school club.
At the same time, I met the best diabolists in France and we produced the Diabology DVD which made us known.
In 2004, I resigned from my job as an engineer to become an artist , and I learned just after that I was selected for the WJF diabolo world championships in Las Vegas , where I won the bronze medal.
This is what got me started in the profession 20 years ago, and since then I have implemented many diverse and varied projects.

G: I started practicing the diabolo and the devil's stick at the age of 12 and I haven't stopped since. Regarding beatboxing, I started when I was 17 and, likewise, I've continued to work on my technique ever since.
After many experiences with other companies; in 2015, I founded the HERBLOT company with which we offer shows around the circus and body music (Human beatbox, body percussion Circlesongs)

As I said previously, I have been juggling since my pre-adolescence, but I have also worked on acrobatic lifts and officiated in numerous companies as a juggler and lifter , and also as an actor for numerous projects.

P: Gaspard asked me to join his company in 2018 to strengthen the circus dimension of the Airblow Company, which was already well-known for hip-hop.
We started by creating "Diabolooping", a 12-minute performative number on diabolos / beatbox / loopstation , which we have performed around fifty times since 2020. Then we wanted to explore the rhythmic relationship between beatbox and bouncing balls in a search for musical and visual fusion. To draw a parallel on energy and aesthetics, bouncing balls are to diabolos what the piano is to the violin. After the creation of a second number " Bounce on da Beat " with bouncing balls / beatbox / loopstation / sound effects, we wanted to compile all our materials into a 40-minute street form that gives us time to present participatory games to the public with singing, movement and juggling with sound balls .

P: Gaspard, as a confirmed juggler and expert beatboxer, has developed numerous live sound experiments for dancers, jugglers, and his own juggling acts. He has already conducted research on writing diabolo sequences in relation to sung phrases and has proposed several composition principles. My contribution as an expert juggler has allowed us to go further in this combination both in the juggling/sound precision and in the variety of juggling patterns.

P: Beyond the spectacular content we had available, we wanted to add a narrative dimension with two well-characterized characters, placed in a situation presenting an American-style show.
Our characters are caricatures of themselves , we were inspired by our own qualities and especially our faults to clearly define their identity, their states and their evolution throughout the show. They maintain a burlesque relationship with the audience who are sometimes witnesses and sometimes participants.

G: We used the loop station to compose live the instrumentals of our numbers in relation to the juggling phrases, we also used the many effects that the loop station offers to work on the sound textures and transform the sound produced by the balls bouncing on the table by different effects . This is the picture of live beatmaking, where the different ways of the composition are driven by Priam's juggled patterns with bouncing balls. Concerning the beatbox , it allows us to support Priam live on his juggling performances and thus make them more impactful.
We have 2 body percussion tables, one of which adds the juggling of a sound ball, which allows us to combine musicality and visuals in a percussive way.
Regarding singing, we find the compositions at the loopstation and we offer voices to sing to the public , which also makes it an instrument.

P: We are quite comfortable in our arts of expertise, namely juggling and beatboxing .
Our main difficulties in this show are linked to the sound technique: on the one hand at the level of the quality of the sound rendering which depends heavily on the equipment (ours or sometimes provided) and the environment, on the other hand concerning the manipulations of the loop station live which are subtle, sometimes complex, and must fit in with the juggling choreography .

P: The characteristic of the author juggler is to have a branching and non-linear writing style like in the theater where everything happens as planned.
The branches of writing a juggled play are the falls, those unforeseen events that take us away from our main narrative direction , the trunk of the tree.
For each possibility of falling, our writing includes a branch that tells us how to act. Our situation generally allows us to start a big figure once or twice, whereas for a fall on a transition movement or after several cycles of a pattern, we will prefer to move on to the next one. In all cases the fall is never ignored , especially since with the bouncing balls and the diabolos, the falls are alive , the object rolls or bounces for several long seconds and moves away from us, which allows us to personify the falling object by giving it sound to interact with it as with a character.

P: The other unforeseen events (apart from falls) often concern the sound system and the audience (it's a street show).
Our numerous rehearsals have already confronted us with these unforeseen events, which has allowed us to define a common and appropriate reaction.
But new unforeseen events regularly arise, so we improvise within a framework of freedoms that we know well.
Since we offer several participatory games, and we interact verbally with the spectators, each performance requires adaptability to the present moment.

P: On the one hand, there is the "setting up" of the show (the set-up) where everyone is responsible for certain technical and scenographic aspects, and on the other hand, there is the personal routine of preparing each artist before going on stage.
We both have our own personal routine, which is quite light, allowing us to adapt well to the conditions of each event. For example, in rehearsal, I work on my juggling choreography without warming up, so I know that if I don't have the opportunity to warm up before a show, it's not a problem. And Gaspard works on his beatbox routines during the trip.

G: We rehearse all the parts synchronized or in duet, and when possible we do a run-through of the whole show.
And then we connect with a big check and we start the show!

P: Our central theme is the musicality of juggling, so juggling must be rhythmic. We have done a lot of work studying the natural rhythms of different juggling patterns, for which we have studied the speed (in BPM), the placement of sounds on the beats and offbeats of 4, 8 or 16 beats. Thanks to these studies, we have set tempos and written beatbox compositions with or without a loop station in relation to the juggled patterns. From then on, juggling becomes strongly rhythmically constrained, so you have to rework your juggling to achieve near rhythmic perfection. Another difficulty is the placement of a bounce sound on a precise beat. It is not like a drum stick or a piano key where the action is done at the instant of the beat, for a ball bounce, you need an anticipation equal to the travel time between the throwing hand and the impact. This duration depends on the way of throwing (active, passive, height of the hand), it is therefore necessary to integrate different anticipations as automatisms according to the ways of throwing, it is difficult and precise work.

P: The joy of playing our participatory games that make you sing, move and juggle, the feeling of having experienced a collective moment, the dynamism and the positive and warm energy that we are keen to share.
Magic with our musical creations based on bouncing balls, sound transformations, loops from elsewhere...
Thrills await with our high-flying beatboxing and juggling performances.

P: The current project is already to complete this creation which will be released on May 18, 2023 at the Les Sortilèges Festival in Ath, and to perform it as much as possible.
In the medium term (end of 2023, 2024) we are considering creating an indoor version with a longer format.
In the long term, Gaspard and I have very good personal affinities so we will surely have other projects in the future.

P: Look for and define your own identity as an artist rather than doing what others do, base your creativity on your personal story because it will necessarily be right.
At the beginning of my career I tried to do like the others and I failed, it was when I fully assumed myself as an artist engineer with all my passions that my productions acquired an authenticity which inevitably pleases.