That new French magic from CIE 14:20

Shadow puppeteer Philippe Beau and his avian friend
(photo courtesy of CIE 14:20) 

What quiets a theater packed with boisterous kids and parents? Phillippe Beau's shadow puppetry, for one thing. I speak with confidence, having heard that with my own ears at French Institute Alliance Française's Florence Gould Hall, one of several city hosts for the new Tilt Kids Festival. Launched by FIAF and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the festival offers a wealth of family-oriented arts, ideas and fun at venues like BAM Fisher, The Invisible Dog Art Center and, of course, Time Square's New Victory Theater. It runs through April 3.

Accompanied by the wonderful pianist Madeleine Cazenave, Beau performed a segment in the magie nouvelle (new magic) production, Cabaret de Magie Nouvelle, presented by CIE 14:20. The Parisian troupe also featured renowned sleight-of-hand magician, Yann Frisch. If you missed these two masterful performers, I'm sad for you. Don't let that happen again.

My attempt to recreate Beau's tricks in order to describe them better for you has proven futile (and might require hand splints). Let me just say that this digital magician does not only pull a rabbit out of the "hat" of his imagination but produces a complete menagerie of animals--a stag with magnificent antlers; a snarling wolf; a galloping, rearing horse; a cat with swishing tail, licking its fur and scratching its ear. A bird feeds its young, later teaching the fledgling how to fly. A lover plants a kiss on a shyer, somewhat startled partner. Even the Devil himself makes an appearance. I'm not sure why but, hey, if you can form a Devil shape with your shadow puppetry, why the hell not?

If your notion of shadow puppetry has always been something amateurish and cheesy, please, get over yourself. This is new shadow puppetry. (I might as well follow the French trend of "new circus," "new magic," "new whatever.") As practiced by Beau, it is a razor-sharp storytelling skill and damned awesome.

Cabaret de Magie Nouvelle has closed, but there's much more Tilt up ahead through April 3, from the visual to the gastronomic arts, co-curated by Lili Chopra (FIAF) and Violaine Huisman (BAM). For information on the festival's lineup, click here.

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Marina Warner's ‘Stranger Magic’

Gardens of Unearthly Delights: ‘Stranger Magic’ by Marina Warner
by Harold Bloom, The New York Times, March 23, 2012

What if the dance dances us?

Lake Lowell, Idaho (c)2011, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

"...perhaps the most vital task of the sleight-of-hand magician is precisely to startle the senses from their slumber, to shake our eyes and our ears free from the static, habitual ways of seeing and hearing into which these senses have fallen and the deadening influence of abstract and overly-objectified ways of speaking and thinking.

"Yet perhaps such magic is also, now, the province of all the arts..."

--David Abram, Ph.D., Alliance for Wild Ethics

A wonder: Do we find ourselves caught up within and experienced by the dancing that we see?

Does the dance we see also see us?

And, if so, how might that make awareness and transformation available to us?

I welcome you to read an essay by David Abram--"Animism, Perception, and Earthly Craft of the Magician"--and to consider his thoughts as well as my questions and how they might relate to our experience with dance.

Please feel free to post your responses as comments here and/or on this post as it appears on my Facebook wall.

Thank you!

Philippe Petit: Wireless!

The amazing, the incomparable Philippe Petit!

Ever wonder how he does it? What drives the man?

Abrons Arts Center will offer a chance for you to find out when it hosts Philippe Petit: Wireless!, (June 16-18, 8pm).

Described as a "90-minute, one man tour de force that is touching, funny, clever, and extemporaneous," this work-in-progress "reveals and demonstrates how [Petit] taught himself magic, juggling and the high wire. Mixing tales with drawings, audience participation, and even magic tricks, he shares his experience as a street juggler, pickpocket, writer, barn builder, bullfighter, and engineer."

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

Abrons Arts Center
Henry Street Settlement
466 Grand Street (corner of Pitt Street), Manhattan
(directions)

Eva's Book Club (3)

Dance folks, what are you reading?

Latest on my nightstand:

The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad/HarperCollins, 2003)
Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the culture of slavery. Highly recommended.

Just completed:

The Accidental Masterpiece: On The Art of Life and Vice Versa by Michael Kimmelman (The Penguin Press, 2005)

Magic Power Language Symbol: A Magician's Exploration of Linguistics by Patrick Dunn (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2008)

Use the Comments feature to tell us what you're reading!