Artist – audience – creative freedom

The legendary Parisian circus “Phenix” will present in Kyiv’s Sports Palace a new program between December 17 and January 5. Having held over 100 sold-out performances in Paris and a huge tour of France, Belgium, and Switzerland, the artists are now embarking on a world tour. “The success of the Phenix comes from unlimited freedom of imagination linked to traditions,” the company’s founder Alain Pacherie stressed. “Classic circuses are ubiquitous in Europe. I wanted to create something different. The first of the Phenix’s special freedoms is revealed in its architecture. It has no visibility-impairing poles, cables, or mats, featuring instead a space that does not interfere with the visual communication between the artists on stage and the audience in auditorium. Creative freedom comes next. I created two performances using 3D-projections of landscapes and animals even before 3D took the world cinema industry by storm... Our company’s name was born after the windstorm of 1999. We have a new circus, it is more modern and reminds our audience of the mythological Phoenix reborn from the ashes, so the name ‘Phenix’ was a logical choice for us...” A new circus show using 3D-effects will enable Kyivites to see the real African savannah. The audience will visit it in the company of a funny pilot Jose, who finds himself in the mysterious continent after... crash-landing there. Acrobats from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Egypt, Australia, and South Africa will present a grand show in the original lemon-orange-colored scenery under the scorching rays of the African sun. The CirkAfrika show is accompanied by an African orchestra, performing rousing ethnic melodies that will enable Kyivites to feel the true breath of the Black Continent. It is believed that a circus without animals is not a real circus. Even though the Phenix does not exploit animals, the audience will still surely appreciate original acts involving predators and reptiles, as well as real somersaults performed by dolls shaped as elephants, ostriches, antelopes, giraffes, crocodiles, and other inhabitants of the jungle.