FLOODESIGN

in front of appreciative impromptu audiences. It was a magical time for young Raphaëlle and her family. When the Boitels arrived at the National Circus School, they attempted to pay their tuition with the coins they'd earned. Annie Fratellini and her staff were touched and invited them to join the school for free. The school was the right place for the talented youngsters, and their skills grew exponentially. When Raphaëlle was 12, she was invited to appear in a movie, and there she met James Thiérrée. She and Camille joined Thiérrée's company, and Lilou became the company's costume designer. During the 13 years Raphaëlle performed with Thiérrée's company, she started developing her own show in her mind: The Forgotten/L'Oublié(e). Forging Her Own Path Boitel says "The Forgotten/L'Oublié(e) is the first big show I created myself, and I wanted to express something very personal. I drew on my own family's stories, but not in a literal way. The world of the show is a kind of dream world, so it can feel very intimate and also very universal. It expresses something everyone can relate to. It's really about being human." When The Forgotten/L'Oublié(e) begins, we hear an offstage voice saying, "One day a man was somewhere, waiting for something, and he died but he continued to breathe." On the shadowy stage we see the stricken man, his doctor, and three women. The rest of this cinematic, acrobatic, circus-theater piece is about the obsessive quest to find this man and how the quest takes on a life of its own. Boitel uses her breathtaking skills as a contortionist to approach this quest from angles most of us can't imagine. The result is an impossible-to-categorize, immersive experience powered by stirring original music by Arthur Bison that takes audiences to new, unexpected territory. It is a perfect example of all that contemporary circus can offer. No clowns, no elephants, but it still has, as Ellingsworth says, "everything old: flying, falling, grace, risk, sweat and injury and beauty, and moments of absolute fear. It has the realness of life meeting death. The seconds where time runs slow. And it still has, often, if not always, the devil's virtuosity. Most of all it has the quality of what you least expect. Because today the circus has been turned inside out ... seeking out new collaborators, new directions, yet holding to age-old ideas that were always there under the hot lights and fanfare of circuses past." Inspiring Women Photo: Vincent Beaume Circus is always on the borders of society. Now it's on the border of art forms. —John Ellingsworth, Sideshow Magazine " " Boitel's inspirations for The Forgotten/L'Oublié(e) include some great forgotten women, including Loïe Fuller and the Countess of Castiglione. Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance and theatrical lighting, graces the iconic 1893 poster for the Folies Bergère, where she performed her signature serpentine dances using billowing gowns and dazzling lighting. The Countess of Castiglione was a great beauty, a mistress of Napoleon III, and a prolific photographic model and art director who recreated events from her life in a series of stunning portraits that are considered the great-great-grandmothers of selfies. Her influence is reflected in the chiaroscuro lighting Boitel employs in The Forgotten/L'Oublié(e). Amy Estes is the Media & Marketing Specialist for Peak Performances. Manuel Igrejas is a playwright, poet, publicist, proud resident of Montclair, and all-purpose art guy. www.peakperfs.org 11

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