• Photo: Daniel Michelon

  • Photo: Daniel Michelon

  • Photo: Sébastein Armengol

  • Photo: Sébastein Armengol

  • Photo: Sébastein Armengol

Capilotractées

UK Premiere as part of CircusFest 2014

Capilotractées  (Hair Hang) is a breathtaking show that draws inspiration from the old and forgotten circus tradition of hair hanging.

Two fearless women float upwards, dancing as they rise magically suspended just by their hair. Poetry and wonder combine as an extraordinary, graceful aerial duet begins.

Enchanted by the beauty of weightlessness and the dream of flying, Finnish artists Sanja and Elice have revived the art of hair hanging. Never nostalgic, Capilotractées  is offbeat, yet feminine and sensual, playing with the significance of hair, and the emotions it arouses.

Press

  • 'a warm, wry and quirky piece of theatre, playing on a whole range of hair-related imagery and symbolism – beauty, shame, fertility, virility, power – but the big draw is undoubtedly the chance to witness something squirm-inducingly unusual'

    Lyndsey Winship, Guardian

  • 'a gem of an experience around [their] eye-popping feats'

    thisiscabaret.com

  • ‘...a show that mixes the ancient technique of hair hanging (in which performers performing acrobatics hanging by the hair; close to the atmosphere of the booths of the freak show)’

    Teatroe Critica Online

  • Company Biography

    Elice Abonce Muhonen

    Trapeze artist

    Elice trained in circus in Finland at Lahden Käsi where she set up her first show Uzur (2004) which toured Europe. She continued her training in Sweden at Cirkuspiloterna specialising in trapeze, then in 2005 Elice created the show Circus Project XXX  which toured to Norway, Sweden and Finland. On graduation from C.N.A.C. she was one of the founding artists of Compagnie Galapiat, and the collective creation Risque Zéro (2008). Elice is the Artistic Director of the festival’s cabaret evenings Tant qu’il y aura des mouettes.

     

    Sanja Kosonen

    Tightrope dancer

    Sanja discovered circus at the recreation school Turun Kirkus Ry in Finland. After circus teacher training at the Art Academy of Turku she joined C.N.A.C. where she specialised in tightwire. In 2005 Sanja collaborated with the Finnish company Circo Aereo on Louisiana Circus. She joined Les Colporteurs for Le Fil sous la Neige (2006), Tarinaet Haute Pointure (2007) and Sur la Route (2009).

    Elice and Sanja met at C.N.A.C. and in 2012 created Mad in Finland together with other artists. They have been working on Capilotractées  since 2010.