With “A ciel ouvert”, the Cirque Aïtal takes the key to the Champs-Elysées

So yes, we've already seen straw and chickens on the Champs-Élysées. But, as far as any customer at Fouquet's remembers, it was probably related to some movement of discontent in the rural world. However, here, the scene is, on the contrary, cordial and light. Since June 11, a scruffy artistic clan has indeed taken up residence at the bottom of this avenue, always hostage to road traffic and lined with flashy signs, which no sane person would claim to be the most beautiful in the world.

Set back from cosmopolitan consumerism, the Aïtal Circus is now in full swing. A family business – a little boy and a little girl, as beautiful as engravings, are taking their first steps in front of an audience, with the blessing of parents who have been involved for twenty years now.

In the beginning, there was a tandem formed by the French acrobat and porter Victor Cathala and the Finnish acrobat Kati Pikkarainen, met at the Cnac (National Center for Circus Arts) in Châlons-en-Champagne. A couple too, a mismatched pair operating on the principle of opposites attracting, like Trottola's elders, Bonaventure Gacon and Titoune Krall, other zealots of an artisanal circus cultivating the old-fashioned charm of fairground chromo. From the shaggy colossus and the Scandinavian twig, several projects were thus born, before the children, sometimes in connection with other companies, sometimes more concentrated, such as For Better and For Worse, performed 450 times since 2011.