Erwan Ha Kyoon Larcher
Smells Like Circus | March 2022
Erwan (he/him) was born in South Korea (Incheon) and raised in France in the countryside. He Studied Chinese pole and handstand, contemporary dance and ballet at the National High School of circus/CNAC and drama at National High School of Dramatic Arts/ENSADP.
He always created his own pieces (RUINE; Envers-Amour; Inverted audio Meditation -Die Sicht der Wirbel-) and also worked for others artists, either for theater shows (C. Orain, C. Honoré) or dance (Ahn Eun Me Cie, Kubilaï Investigations) or more hybrid ones (P. Quesne; Clédat & Petitpierre; Phia Ménard).
He is also more and more involved in the music field with a solo music project HA KYOON, composed the live music performance #SS20 for the Parisian fashion collective GAMUT and he‘s a part of the label WARRIORECORDS.
Behind the scenes:
Meet the artist
What inspires you?
‘It’s always changing, but it can be movies, exhibitions, or music, or walking outside, observing people dancing in parties etc. but I really love Bas Jan Ader for its radicality and its physical approach of simple acts, and an ancient Chinese book ‘Yi Jing’’
Do you consider your art in relation to your identity or life? If so, how?
‘Somehow, my work is an answer to my identity or life. I just try to listen to it because it’s moving all the time.’
How did you get started out as a circus artist? Why circus?
‘When I was young I wanted to be an actor. I’ve seen contemporary circus and the body dimension catch me up. It was an intuition.’
Performing at ‘Smells like Circus’:
‘Ruine’
How did the performance come to life?
“I wanted to make a group piece, but things I wanted to work on was personal. So I wanted to write a piece based on autobiographic things, even if at the end, it’s not. I’ve tried to transform those intimate questions into something more open.”
Is there a particular issue/theme you wish to address with this performance?
“I speak about many different things, about our own constructions, choices, daily violence and responsibility.”
Do you have any anecdotes?
“During one show, in the beginning, I’ve almost been burnt.”
Is there any other project you would like to highlight?
“I’m also touring with Phia Ménard and her piece: Trilogie des Contes Immoraux (Pour Europe): (on the 4/5th February in De Singel/Antwerp) and music (next ep on Chronicles Records).”
Other performances:
Envers-Amour: (based on RUINE),
created for La Station opening (Paris)
Inverted Meditation - Die Sicht der Wirbel - (invited by Mousonturm Theater/Franfurt-MMODEMM)