Mirlitons
Aymeric Hainaux
François Chaignaud
Running time 70’
A concert, a battle, a ritual – these are the possible readings of the meeting of twoperformance landscapes: the world of Aymeric Hainaux, versatile artist, poet, drawer and musician, who plays with and mixes choruses, beats, audio feedback and human beatbox, and the world of François Chaignaud, dancer, singer, performer, true master of crossdressing who, for years, has been using his voice as a vehicle of sensory and spiritual states. It’s a physical and musical alchemy in which sound, voice and rhythm combine to reach unimaginable levels of performative intensity. The duo is like amirliton, a French word used to describe a small flute, a hat, a golden coin or a type of dessert: it is both polysemic and ungraspable.
François Chaignaud is a dancer, choreographer, singer, actor, historian, and a true master of cross-dressing. His work is also enriched by extensive historical research. Between 2005 and 2016, he created, with Cecilia Bengolea, multiple shows, including (M)IMOSA (with Trajal Harrell and Marlene Monteiro Freitas, 2011). With Nina Laisné, he created Romances inciertos, un autre Orlando (2017), and with Marie-Pierre Brébant Symphonia Harmoniæ Cælesitum Revelationum (2019), both performed at Triennale Milano. In 2021, he founded Mandorle Productions to encourage a collaboration-based artistic production. His work has been presented worldwide, and he is an associate artist at Bonlieu, Scène Nationale d'Annecy, at Chaillot - Théâtre national de la Danse in Paris as well as at the Maison de la danse and the Biennale de la danse de Lyon.
Aymeric Hainaux is invested in a very personal approach of the human beatbox and one of the most prominent artists of this art. He creates precise machine sounds with the use of a microphone, some bells, a harmonica, and sometimes a cassettes player. In 2005, he began a solo tour by hitchhiking. This adventure lasted eight years during which he traveled forty-thousand kilometers each year, from Meknes to Copenhagen and from Tallin to Rome, and staged 700 performances in three continents. The diversity of his projects also brings him to performs in many art venues and different locations. Since 2013 he collaborates with banjo player Stéphane Barascud, in the music brut duo Cantenac Dagar and runs his own label His label Isola Records which makes books, cassettes, CDs and records.