Performance – Circus – Juggling – Dance – Physical Theater – Visual Poetry – Humor – Japanese Masks
FACES臉
A juggler dances with human facets and invented spirits.
FACES臉 offers visions of a man’s existence
through express metamorphoses
in an improvised circus open to the sky.
The 6 senses awake, the seventh in suspense —
object forms come alive, multiply, transform;
dynamic gestures from which bursts intense life,
in deep connection with the audience who,
together, weave the sensitive space…
FACES臉 pays homage to cinema through the living.
Cassavetes on one side, Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮) on the other.
FACES臉 lets itself be inhabited by the popular spirits of Taiwanese culture,
becomes a mirror that repels demons,
projects its nascent faces into another space-time,
toward other mysteries.
FACES 臉 shares its own humanist vision.
Early versions of FACES were created in TAIWAN and JAPAN in 2011. Since then, multiple versions have followed in Asia. FACES played every weekend… notably in residence-performance for 5 years (2013-2018) at Huashan 1914 Creative Park, one of Taipei’s most visited cultural hubs. FACES has been performed over a thousand times — a circus with a canvas suggested by the vastness that contains us — seen by millions. FACES is a “life show” (evolving from life to death, until the body or mind can no longer deliver the integrity of the piece). FACES lives in perpetual vibration with every performance.
Dance, physical theater, object, visual, humor, music, blended cultures, supernatural juggling.
A polymorphic circus that surprises at the micro-second.
Performing-art is a call.
Deploy the monster of energy.
Embody the stick insects of the instant.
Juggle the expected and the unexpected,
transcend forms through breath.
FACES臉 is performed for the living and the ancestors —
dreams and realities fused,
in an energy corridor toward light.
The metamorph, attentive pilot,
takes us on a fantastic journey
through a galaxy of joy and emotion,
speaking Mandarin to the geologist stratified within us.
∆
OVER 1500 PERFORMANCES
across FRANCE • SWITZERLAND • SOUTH KOREA • CHINA • HONG KONG • TAIWAN • PORTUGAL • JAPAN
GOLDEN AGE
2017: 189 shows [version 2.7 to 2.8] (Taiwan, France)
2016: 227 shows [version 2.5 to 2.7] (Taiwan, Portugal)
2015: 272 shows [version 2.3 to 2.5] (Taiwan)
2014: 218 shows [version 2.2 to 2.3] (Taiwan, South Korea)
2013: 287 shows [version 1.8 to 2.2] (Taiwan)
CAST & CREW
– Created & Performed by Valentin Lechat
– Stage Design Valentin Lechat
– Costume Concept Valentin Lechat
– Costume Design Ms Zhou, Celma Jonker & Valentin Lechat
– Object Transformation & Construction Valentin Lechat
– Graphic Design I-An Chen & Valentin Lechat
– Soundtrack Remixed by Valentin Lechat
Special Thanks to Takeshi Kitano, John Cassavetes, Quentin Dupieux, Bobby May, Francis Brunn, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Alfred Hitchcock, Hoichi Okamoto, Ilka Schönbein, Johann Le Guillerm, Tsaï Ming Liang, Jean Pierre Leaud, Orson Welles, Michael Moschen, Karl Heinz Ziethen, Jérôme Thomas, Jay Gilligan, Céline Bacque, Jeff Calafato, I-An Chen, Anjani Lechat..
Supported by DONDORO theatre, 華山1914文創園區, Bureau Français de Taipei, 臺北市政府文化局
THE UNITED ARTISTS production
Copyright 2013-8113 © THE UNITED ARTISTS