Yves Sheriff is a man with a lot of imagination. You can say that is his main resource. Due to his relationship with the best clowns in the world, he has ended up thinking like them: “Anything can happen.” He did not come to the 12th International Summer Circus Festival: Circuba 2013 to explain how to make a clown, nor to make or correct comedy acts. His clowning workshop, held in the afternoon of Wednesday at the Riviera Hotel, was more related with the philosophy of sharing the knowledge of his company than with an uncompromising stand on what works or not in the clown’s job.
The Bolivian, who has been outside of his homeland since very young, is casting director for the famous company Cirque du Soleil. For a long time he lived in Italy. He also studied philosophy. For him, a clown is the person who got the wrong door and found himself suddenly in public. “As he is a clown he is not going to take the seemingly most logical solution, which is to move away by the same door he came in, but he goes forward with the absurd. He’s in the scene and does not know why, but he’s not like the jester, who knows exactly what his objective is. If he does something and the audience laughs, he will repeat it, and so again and again. Accident is the element that marks the turning point in his history. “
Sheriff has been previously in Cuba to hold auditions as representative of Cirque du Soleil, which is made up approximately by 125 000 hired artists. But this visit is the first in which the scout looks at Cuban clowns and what they could or not offer to his company, “Although here we had already had very positive results with acrobats and dancers of the level we seek.” He also told OnCuba that for what he has been observed so far, Cuban clowns are distinguished thanks to their rhythm.
“They’re always dancing -he says-and I think the whole Cuban circus has that style, which includes music of its own. That is quite different. Cuban circus artists have a fairly high acrobatic level, and that has to do with the Cuban circus history, which was influenced by the USSR (former Soviet Union) and at the same time they are watching the way in which we work in Montreal. It can be said that Cuban circus is multidisciplinary, where acrobats also have to know how to dance; clowns need to know acrobatics, etc… That is, and I repeat it, very different.
“The most interesting thing of Cuban circus is that they keep folklore, through the way they dance, which is well of their own, but they make a circus much like ‘the new circus’: they have elements of scenery, theater, short stories … Although I have not seen the first competitive show of the festival, I think they make an exchange between Cuban elements with a very contemporary vision. Cuban circus artists also explore a lot, they are always looking for new experiences, new ways of presentation , new acrobatic equipment. And that is very appealing to us. “
He admitted that this year he was seduced by the festival’s program, mainly the space dedicated to the clowns, which included the 6th Edwin Fernandez in memoriam International Clown Contest. That is why he said, “I wanted to come to see both events and make contact with the South American network of artists who are very present here.”
” There are some Cubans currently in the company-he noted, and only for political reasons (because most of the tours are in the U.S.) and contracts, we do not choose Cubans as we would like. But I think that’s going to change, because we are very interested in maintaining our contacts here. For all I know, very few Cubans who are now part of Cirque du Soleil have auditioned in Cuba; I’d say about 10 dancers. A good portion is chosen in third countries. I think there is a Cuban percussionist who auditioned in New York. There are also acrobats and jugglers. “
Yves Sheriff has well-defined criteria for choosing the clowns that will be part of the renowned Cirque du Soleil shows. The first requirement is to suit the precise physical profiles the company looks for some particular acts: someone too big or too small, etc. Everything else is originality and as he mentioned in other interviews, the presence in the scene-something that simply some artists have and others not-, accuracy and projection. This last quality is very important for practical reasons, “because most of the shows are in big tops or stages for about 2500 people, and we need to see clearly that they can share what they do with all the public. So far, what I have seen since I came to Circuba makes me think we can come back and hold more professional auditions for Cuban clowns “.
During the clowning workshop he gave at the Cuban circus party Sheriff proposed some exercises involving a level of reasoning different from everyday’s. For example, the attention to details, the reaction time, concentration, improvising ability, full awareness of movements on stage, the ability to give and receive energy and, above all, not losing sight of the public , involve them into the game, these were some of the tips recommended by the specialist.
The clown is at a level where everything is possible but at the same time all he projects in the scene must be very logical, he explained in the workshop.
Would the Cirque du Soleil include Cuba in some of its tours?
That would be divine. In my personal opinion, it would be great that an upcoming issue of Circuba could be attended by the Cirque du Soleil to present one or two acts. That may be possible. The fact of coming with a full tour would be spectacular, but that’s another department [he smiles], and I do not know how that part runs. I think Cuban people would love it. It would be very pretty.
By: Eva Pizan
