KALLISTI
Kallisti is a feminist performance company founded in 2009 and based in Saint-Denis (France), known for hybrid shows combining circus, theater, dance and many other disciplines.
Directed by Frieda Gerson, the company's projects explore questions of identity and our place in the world. The research is intersectional and the process is collaborative, inspired by masked theater and anchored in the Viewpoints method.
PARASITE, which premiered in June 2022 at the National Theater of Luxembourg, was the first large-format show created by the company. A trans·disciplinary performance for theater spaces, PARASITE uses movement and text to examine questions of free will.
The company's previous creations, including À Corps Des and Vol en Vers, were centered on circus and the accessibility of live performance, for all audiences. These shows were performed outdoors or in circus tents.
Until 2020 Kallisti was known as Cirque Kallisti. The name change is the result of a natural evolution of the company's projects.
ARTISTS
Frieda BK Gerson
director, writer, aerialist
Frieda is a trans·disciplinary artist particularly interested in the dramaturgy of space, philosophical questions about identity, and the blending of diverse artistic and expressive forms. Originally from San Francisco, Frieda began circus at an early age at the Circus Center.
Frieda studied masked theater with Matteo Destro and Paola Coletto in Italy, after training in physical theater at the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Trained in Viewpoints with the SITI Company (New York) and with Mary Overlie, Frieda also holds a State Diploma in circus pedagogie (Diplôme d'État de professeur de cirque). A passionate pedagogue, Frieda loves to share their knowledge by combining the artistic with the playful, in schools and through social circus projects.
Frieda also collaborates with Yaëlle Antoine / Cie d'Elles and was co-outside eye for the show Bête(s) by the Corps Caverneux Company in France. Frieda worked as both director and dramaturge on various phases of the multifaceted project Desire Lines, with the Luxembourg-based collective Ampersand Variations, as part of Esch 2022 - European Capital of Culture, and has directed the children's shows Pixie Pixel for the Clervaux Cité de l'image.
Johan ‘Balou’ Pagnot
acrobat of many surfaces
Balou was born in 1990 and entered the world of performance at the exact same moment. His twenty years training and performing with his family's circus company have given him a mastery of acrobatics both on the ground and on horseback, as well as experience working with some of the big names in the French circus andmusic scene (Spark, Les Yeux Noirs...).
Balou trained in equestrian vaulting with Pascal Pagnot, Gilles Audejean and Manu Bigarnet, and in ground acrobatics and handstands with Lin Yung Biau, among others. In 2010, Balou joined La Bande d'Arrêt d'Urgence.
Baptiste Gaubert
writer, actor, clown
Playing the fool, the clown, the saltimbanque. Trying, failing, trying again, failing again. The king of failures. At the Lecoq School in Paris and Francine Côté's School of Clowning and Comedy in Montreal. And more successful theater studies, albeit at the Universities of Metz, Paris 8 and Lyon II (ah-ah). Magnificent training courses at The Samovar, and with Marc Mauguin, Claire Vergos and Michel Dallaire.
Apprenticeships in Saône-et-Loire, this clown's cradle, with Hébé Lorenzo and Patricia Montorier. A touring show (just one? Yes, just one) : Parce Que Bourvil. And PARASITE? Ah, yes, PARASITE. And the collective : the Collectif en Cours? Yes, of course. And writing... when time allows and opportunity permits. Open stages too, hosted by Marie, at Les Mains Libres (still close to the next). But now the bird's about to fly.
Attention, get ready : Splash!
Mathilde Estampes
lighting designer
Originally from Toulouse, Mathilde sets up projectors with the same ease as with which others read their horoscopes. She trained at the CFPTS in Bagnolet in 2023, after obtaining a CAP Electrician degree - because knowing how to connect things is useful!
Mathilde began her career as a lighting technician by lighting the stages of the festival Un temps pour elles. Prior to that, she trained as an Artistic and Cultural Project Manager. For eight years Mathilde worked in the circus world as a receptionist and box-office manager at the Académie Fratellini in Saint-Denis, where she first met the Kallisti company.
Sensitive to and concerned by feminist and queer movements, Mathilde enjoys working on artistic projects that touch on and align with her values. Passionate about live performance, shadow work and intimate lighting, Mathilde discovers and explores the technical possibilities of her field.
