Clédat & Petitpierre

Poufs are extravagant hairpieces popularized by Rose Bertin, the almighty personal seamstress of queen Marie-Antoinette: an elaborate sculpture made of hair, ribbons, flowers and all sorts of accessories, including stuffed animals, which symbolized the moods of the person wearing them. Poufs were consequently also known as ‘sentimental poufs’. Bridging the gap between their own visual work and these crazy hairpieces and connecting them with 17th-century burlesque ballets and their spectacular costumes, the Clédat & Petitpierre duo has created a wild reverie about love. Between the bushes of an ornamental garden known as “jardin à la française”, dancers Ruth Childs and Sylvain Prunenec perform in immaculate monumental poufs in a theatre of love ruled by the codes of the famous “carte du Tendre”. A surprising physical language, both delicate and wild, arises between baroque dance and the choreographed  embodiment of feelings.

Yvan Clédat and Coco Petitpierre have been sculpting strange creatures and staging creative works since 1986. Their pieces – among which their latest creation Les Merveilles – have been performed in arts centers, museums, theatres and festivals. As performers, they also dance in other creations and participated in the staging and costume design for many projects, among which pieces by Olivier Martin-Salvan.