Agathe and Adrien flip and balance gender roles in N.Ormes, April 24 to 27

At The Cultch’s Warrior Festival, circus performers alternate between base and flyer, dismantling long-standing assumptions

*N.Ormes* duo Agathe and Adrien. Photo by Thibault Caron

The Cultch presents N.Ormes at the Historic Theatre from April 24 to 27 as part of the Warrior Festival

THE ICARIAN GAMES are a two-person circus act in which one person acts as a base, balancing and flipping a partner called the flyer into the air.

Height, size, and gender often determine who takes on which role; normally men are bases, and women are flyers. But Montreal’s Agathe Bisserier and Adrien Malette-Chénier, known as the circus duo Agathe and Adrien, completely upend those gender roles in N.Ormes. The spectacle sees two protagonists push the limits of the human body with Icarian games, hand-to-hand acrobatics, and dance elements.

Bisserier and Malette-Chénier navigate a balancing act of power, fairness, and complicity, switching deftly between base and flyer as they lift and support one another. Through choreography that is both intimate and extravagant, they work at dismantling long-standing assumptions and forming a deep, trusting connection both on and off the stage.

Lighting design by Claire Seyller and an original score by Simon Leoza accentuate the performers’ journey together.

The Cultch is presenting N.Ormes as part of its inaugural Warrior Festival, a celebration of defiant works by women and gender-expansive artists that continues at the York Theatre, Historic Theatre, and Vancity Culture Lab until May 11. Read more about the headlining show, Dance Nation, here.

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Emily Lyth

Stir editorial assistant Emily Lyth is a Vancouver-based writer and editor who graduated from Langara College’s Journalism program. Her decade of dance training and passion for all things food-related are the foundation of her love for telling arts, culture, and community stories.

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