Gilles Charles-Messance’s journey began in 1977 when he stepped into the circus of Annie Fratellini and Pierre Étaix. New to this world, he first trained as an acrobat before creating his own acts—on the trampoline and the fixed trapeze—which led him to perform with Arlette Gruss’s circus and several other traditional circuses, including Monti in Switzerland and Alexis Gruss.
He later mastered the flying trapeze with the company Arts Sauts and developed a Washington trapeze act that marked the start of a long collaboration with Les Colporteurs. For Gilles, circus is not work—it is play, a joyful craft that exists to delight audiences.
In 2023, Gilles toured India with Toyo, an artistic and cultural exchange program for young audiences. This captivating circus performance stages a humorous encounter between an acrobat and a construction pipe, unfolding into an inventive and playful narrative.
When
27 September – 4 November 2023
Where
Kolkata, Lucknow, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad, Pondicherry, Chennai