Arno Ferrera
Smells Like Circus | March 2022
Acrobat in the contemporary circus company ‘Un loup pour l'homme’ and artistic director of the ‘Cuir’ show.
“What I propose with my projects is an invitation to abandon, to discover trust in the other, and therefore also to transform one's perception of oneself.”
Arno performing ‘Cuir’ with Gilles Polet
Picture by Valérie Frossard
Behind the scenes
Meet the artist
Arno performing ‘Cuir’ with Gilles Polet
Picture by Valérie Frossard
Inspiration
Arno Ferrera is an acrobat-performer and creator. He grew up in Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. As a child, Arno was not only intrigued but fascinated by mythology. When learning to read in his mother’s language – Italian – the enigmatic and controversial short story of the Minotaur made a long lasting impression. “This mythological creature with a human body and a bull head, is often thought of as a terrible and bloodthirsty monster, but it actually inspired me and still does. In fact, instinct and reason coexist in each of us and both must be nurtured and respected. And c’mon… in a sense, we are all in a kind of labyrinth, and with each choice of our life we create our own path.”
Apart from mythology, Arno considers his art to be closely related to the questions he asks himself about identity and personal life experiences. “Touch, for example, is extremely important to me. In my past, at a young age, I had unwanted experiences with touch. I realize that it was necessary, or rather essential for me to reconnect with touch, work trust and abandonment to the other, consent, rediscover sweetness and violence.”
Artistic process
Arno has been based in Brussels - a city he refers to as a “true ocean of cultures” - since 2013. He is an acrobat in the contemporary circus company Un loup pour l'homme and specilizes in hand-to-hand (H2H) acrobatics.
For the past 7 years Arno’s work has focused on “touching”. He combines his work as a performer with other projects that bring artistic creation involving a tactile exchange in contexts such as prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and more recently in the context of male sex work.
“What I propose with my projects is an invitation to abandon, to discover trust in the other, and therefore also to transform one's perception of oneself. My work is very physical, tiring. Let's say fatigue is something I respect and embrace, and I like to feel my body transform through effort.”
Currently, Arno is creating a project with Gilles Polet in the Liancourt penitentiary center near Paris, where they will guide 12 prisoners into performing a show where they touch and collaborate using their approach to physical matter. The spectators for the show will be other inmates and the prisons guards. "It is very exciting to see them interact with such care. And in a men's prison it's not always obvious. Personally, I am very excited."
Why circus?
Arno ended up in the circus world by chance. He started as a gymnast, a sport he later combined with music studies and with pre-professional theater. He then decided to do a Bachelor in Physical Theater in Switzerland, which allowed him to combine these disciplines. After his studies, he started to work as a dancer. Only in 2015, he was invited to join the contemporary circus company Un loup pour l'homme. “I didn't go to the circus, the circus picked me up and got me. But I have a perception of the performing arts as something complete when it is in fact interdisciplinary”
Performing at ‘Smells like Circus’:
‘Cuir’
Arno is the artistic director and performer in ‘Cuir’ - a show developed with the contemporary circus company ‘Un loup pour l'homme’.
“The starting point for ‘Cuir’ was the curiosity to observe the work between the human being and the animal, which in fact at first I found something based on the power of the human being over nature.”
How did the performance come to life?
““Cuir”'s starting point was the curiosity to observe the work between the human being and the animal, which in fact at first I found something based on the power of the human being over nature. I then interviewed two people who still work the fields with a horse today. But they made me understand that for this specific type of work you cannot dominate the animal, you can only collaborate if you can create a space for trust and listening, and this trust must be found every day. Otherwise the field cannot be plowed. I like this parallel that can be made between a relationship and a field.”
Is there a particular issue/theme you wish to address with this performance?
""Cuir" was born from the desire to present a relationship of domination and submission between two men, where, however, the roles can change, transform, be versatile. To do this we use leather harnesses created by a saddler who usually makes only tools for animals. Violence is sometimes present in the show, but above all to emphasize tenderness. And what can be felt in the performance as power, is not exercised over the other but rather with the other."Do you have any anecdotes?
"Often when I say the title "Cuir" to someone, I am often asked if the name of the show is "Queer" or "Cuir". It always makes me smile. Actually the title comes from the leather stuff, but this game of identical sounds can offer an extra level of reading to the show. In general, I find it beautiful when you add levels of interpretation to something, and in the case of “Cuir” every spectator is more than welcome to interpret our work according to their own experience, their own gaze."