Since when do men persist in thinking of themselves as outside of the universe which nevertheless engendered them? By what bias of representation, by what theoretical dodging have we excluded ourselves from the rest of life?” Hélène and Léo, Maison Courbe Maison Courbe is an artists collective evolved from the world of circus and plastic arts to create art works which embody multidisciplinary nature between live performance, plastic installations and site-specific work in public space. Their shared desire is to quest for a dialogue between body, matter and space.

Hélène LEVEAU
She discovered the circus at a very young age and began her training at the circus school of Châtellerault in handstands. Later, in Quebec Circus school, she discovered slack rope, as well as, becomes a flyer in Icarian games. Hélène is co-founder of the collective À Sens Unique, Sarthoise company in which will give birth to several shows including Léger démélé (outdoor) and Mule (indoor). She became more active in projects on a human scale, seeking the proximity to the public by investing in new crossroads through clowning, waterfall burlesque, and Butô dance.

Léo MANIPOUD
He moves in rolling and in the direction of the slope. He meets fortunately capoeira and circus to channel this strangeness. He then hops to formation professional at Piste d’Azur and at the Academy Fratellini to hop better. Moving away from the spectacular circus to mix dance, acrobatics, urban climbing, texts and contortions to support his words. His thinking words are about questioning our relationship to nature, to normality, to genders. He worked in the show Fractales of the Cie Libertivore and co-created the collective Maison Courbe.

Hélène and Léo met in a clown course, far from their respective artistic specialties. They found themselves in this place with a nose and without a mask. Since then they have been on the road, finding their own language, discovering streets, parks and rooftops, all naked or dressed in the simplest pageantry. They take the lightness of life very seriously and above all they want to move people, as much as possible. These two artists are well-established as indoor performers or with other companies’ work but they are emerging in their exploration and R&D creation in public space as Maison Courbe company. They are dealing with the question of the body in public space. They strive to differentiate conceptions, perceptions and dimensions of the public space by acting in it, immersing themselves in it and leveraging (in)visible architectures and landscapes of environment, while also researching matters and people. Artists are convinced that alongside indignation it takes a complementary force to lead to action, to movement, to change. This force is called joy – the joy of creating, of sharing and above all the joy of being living. The joy of being which is so lacking in our cultures. While being driven to re-enchant and deepen relationships with ecology in their artistic creations, Maison Courbe is even more eager to take time with the general public and people who live on the territories crossed but also to tour in a same region using bikes or “boat-pedalo” like they have plan to do it next year in France when it is possible.