Face Aux Murs - Cie Hors Surface

Experience gravity-defying acrobatics exploring connection, resilience, and the possibility of change.

Face Aux Murs (Facing the Walls) is an exhilarating acrobatic trampoline performance that examines human relationships against a backdrop of constant change.

Created by Damien Droin, the work explores an inner rebellion shaped by moments of uncertainty, vertigo, and encounters with both others and oneself. Despite those tensions, its outlook remains optimistic, considering the ways people can move beyond limitations, start again, and reinvent themselves.

Six solitary acrobats perform around a towering Plexiglas wall positioned between two trampolines. This imposing structure shapes the action on stage, becoming a place where desire, hesitation, courage, and resistance are expressed through movement. As performers alternate between observing and taking action, they confront difficult choices about whether to stop, persist, or discover another path forward.

Nothing in this environment remains entirely stable. The setting shifts throughout the performance, altering the physical and emotional worlds inhabited by the characters and reinforcing ideas of instability, transformation, and renewal.

The scenography also gives physical form to broader questions about separation and connection. The wall divides people, ideas, and spaces, while its unseen side is left to the audience's imagination. Through the performers' encounters with this structure, falling, rising, and suspension take on wider meaning, suggesting different ways of navigating a world that cannot simply be accepted as it is.

The work also considers how a shared society can be formed in the face of exclusion and individualism. Through bodies in motion, changing perspectives, and encounters between performers, *Face Aux Murs* presents the human body as a source of freedom and human connection as a means of confronting isolation.

Its sense of hope lies in the possibility of change: barriers can be approached differently, setbacks can lead to new movement, and what initially appears limiting can become the starting point for reinvention.

Who’s Performing?

Author, Director: Damien Droin Circus Performers: Tristan Etienne or Tiago Lopes, Maël Thierry, Damien Droin or Léon Le Nestour, Lauren Yee or Louise Aussibal, Aris Colangelo or Diogo Farias Dos Santos, Carl Rom Colthoff or Dillon Vance • Musical Composition: Matthieu Tomi • Set Design: Damien Droin • Stage Manager: Simon Drouart • Set Builder and Stage Manager: Kob • Lighting Design: Aline Tyranowicz and Léo Grosperrin • Video Design: Caillou • Costume Design: Suan Czepczynski • Movement Research: Alice Rende • Sound and Video Technician: Pauline Parneix • Production Manager: Bérénice Vivès Co-producers and/or Residency Partners: Archaos PNC, Théâtres en Dracénie - Scène conventionnée, AGORA PNC Boulazac-Nouvelle Aquitaine, Le Carré Sainte Maxime, Le Vellein scènes de la CAPI – Isère, Pôle Arts de la Scène – Friche la Belle de Mai, La Scala Provence and Paris, Scène Nationale Les Salins, PNC La Brèche, Liberté Scène Nationale, Maillon Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne Partners: Ministry of Culture / Sud Region / Var Department / TPM Metropolitan Area / City of Toulon

Meet the Artist:

Compagnie Hors Surface Cie Hors Surface is a Toulon-based circus company that has been championing a new, multifaceted, and highly demanding acrobatic style since 2011. Poetic and visual, this company, directed by Damien Droin, develops extraordinary stage designs and asserts a unique language that blends original musical composition with high-flying choreography. Damien creates imaginary universes, mental spaces, and parallel worlds that draw their strength from reality. Our artistic vision: to question space in flux, our relationship to reality. A multifaceted circus, whose originality lies in the creation of imaginary worlds. The company continues its search for an original artistic language where the question of movement interrogates that of space. Damien is passionate about stage design, and it was during his studies at the CNAC (National Center for Circus Arts) that he invented the Acronet: a 60 m² stretched canvas made from a fishing net, serving as a trampoline. This innovative apparatus has since been revisited and evolves in each new show by the company. Damien Droin (Author and Director) Damien Droin trained at the National Center for Circus Arts in 2009, where he developed a large suspended trampoline he named Acronet, which he then combined with tightrope walking, creating a space conducive to transforming the body between balance and flight. In 2010, he founded ie Hors Surface. Simultaneously, he has collaborated on several projects, notably with Mario Martone at La Scala in Milan for the opera Pagliacci, and with the writer and director Fabrice Melquiot, with whom he continues to collaborate today. To date, he has produced and directed eight pieces, blurring the lines between circus and dance. Since 2015, Damien has been developing international projects

Event Policies, Terms, and Conditions

• The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all patrons. • Entry to the NYUAD Campus is through either the East or West Parking or the Welcome Center. • Please note the new campus entry requirements: you must present both your event ticket and the campus access QR code sent by email through NYUAD Campus Safety. • As per current Department of Culture and Tourism guidelines a Green Al Hosn is NO LONGER needed to attend public events in Abu Dhabi. • The wearing of face masks is NO LONGER required in most indoor public places, including campus buildings. • For access and wheelchair bookings, please email: nyuad.boxoffice@nyu.edu

How to get there

By car: Take Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan St/E10, Al Mina, and Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed St/E12 to Laffan St. Exit at Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed St/E12. Continue on Laffan Street to your destination. GPS navigation is advised. By public transportation: You can take bus 170 (Al Saadiyat New York< University Via Abu Dhabi) to the Saadiyat New York University 3 bus stop and take a short walk from there. By taxi: You can easily reach your destination via taxi or by using a ride-hailing app. Please note the new campus entry requirements: you must present both your event ticket and the campus access QR code sent by email through NYUAD Campus Safety.