Explorations of Research and Creation with Charles Batson – Gender, Power & Change
CircusTalk is pleased to present a new series, “Explorations of Research and Creation with Charles Batson.” Dedicated to provocative dives into where research and creation meet in the development of intriguing art, this series is designed to showcase experiences in how creative processes and research questions guide, inform, and give a spark to stimulating work. Join us for this four-episode journey from across our many circus worlds!
“Research is a space of where we find new questions, to challenge.”
In this inaugural episode, Batson gives space to the voices and artistry of the Quebec-based artists Agathe et Adrien and to how they have embraced research in their particular creative processes. Viewers familiar with Batson’s previous series “Journeys Through Queer Circus” will note similar themes resonating with the concerns of the artists showcased there, with shared desires to give space and body to expressions that point to a more equitable and inclusive art. Here, as we start this new series, Agathe et Adrien walk us through many of the paths towards what became their hand-to-hand duo N.Ormes, with their creative path increasingly marked and enhanced by what they came explicitly to call “research.”
Indeed, we discuss their definitions of “research” and “creation,” and what those terms – and impulses – mean for them as they move across multiple tasks of training, developing, and producing. Along the way, they give specific advice to artists wishing to explore research-creation, based in their own lived experiences, choices, and experimentations.
We invite you to take note of and drop into the multiple layers of their engaging conversation, one that is accompanied by an interview with Melanie Stuckey, of the research group CRITAC, which won a recent prestigious research grant to give yet more support to Agathe et Adrien’s ongoing creative work and to sharing the results of the provocative questions raised. She too has stimulating words to offer on what we may be calling “research” and “creation,” offering guidance and wisdom about how and why we might more fully embrace where the two can come together. Explorations of Research and Creation, here we come!
Charles Batson is proud to identify as a circademic. A circus, theatre, and dance researcher and sometime practitioner, as well as Professor of French and Francophone studies at Union College (Schenectady, NY, USA), Batson may best be known here at CircusTalk for the “Journeys Through Queer Circus” series, for the international research project Circus and its Others, and for publications such as the co-edited volume Cirque Global: Quebec’s Expanding Circus Boundaries.
Agathe et Adrien
Performing artists
The duo “Agathe & Adrien” graduated from the Circus School of Quebec in 2018.They work at the edge of circus, dance, and theater/performing arts. This multidisciplinarity allows them to develop a unique circus vocabulary.As emerging artists Agathe and Adrien started their career working for well-established circus companies in Quebec but, needing to express their socialand environmental values through a committed circus, they turned towardsindependent circus creations presented in Quebec including Branché, Pieceof Mind, Interact, and now, N.Ormes. Tired of the obsolete and toxic patterns of male/female relationships presentin the circus world today, they combine the codes of circus, contemporarydance, and performance art to create a rich, complex acrobatic language, as apart of a feminist approach to redefining standards.
Melanie Stuckey
Performance Researcher
Melanie is a researcher of Performance Optimization and Social Innovation at The Centre for Circus Arts Research, Innovation, and Knowledge Transfer (CRITAC). CRITAC develops applied research projects in collaboration with many partners, and offers technical assistance, information, and training to people working in the circus, performing arts, and human performance sectors. Melanie has worked with CRITAC since 2019 with numerous publications and projects to boast.
We hope you enjoy these discussions as much as we did!
Earlier research exploration forN.Ormes
All footage graciously shared by the creators.
Editor's Note: At StageLync, an international platform for the performing arts, we celebrate the diversity of our writers' backgrounds. We recognize and support their choice to use either American or British English in their articles, respecting their individual preferences and origins. This policy allows us to embrace a wide range of linguistic expressions, enriching our content and reflecting the global nature of our community.
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