words yvonne teh

An arts-oriented French juggling troupe innovates and surprises.

Try googling ‘Jerome Thomas’ and you might be surprised at who turns up. You will meet Jerome Thomas, the English professional footballer currently attached to Charlton Athletic Football Club. Or you might bump into Jerome Thomas, the flyweight division boxer who represented France in the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics. And you also will undoubtedly be introduced to the Jerome Thomas who, together with his Compagnie Jerome Thomas, will present Rain/Bow on June 2 and 3 in Hong Kong as part of this year’s Le French May.

A master juggler and juggling choreographer, this particular Jerome Thomas is a versatile fellow. He first trained with Annie Frattellini, a famous female circus clown credited with creating France’s first circus school, where, states Agnes Celerier, production manager of the Compagnie Jerome Thomas, “many circus techniques were taught”. This individual who, Celerier shares, “is really talented as a clown” also went on to train with cabaret artists and, displaying an unusual willingness to embrace a great range of performing art forms, has additionally entered into long-term collaborations with jazz musicians.

Dubbed a “reformist of the juggling art in France over the last 15 years” by Le Monde, Thomas, with the troupe that bears his name, has further lately developed the ‘cubic juggling’ widely used in Rain/Bow. Thomas says cubic juggling “considers objects manipulation and body movement as a unique gesture”. Well, yes... but then Celerier explains that this particular form of juggling is both a tool and a method. And adds that it is the union of creativity and improvisation between two very different art forms – dance and juggling.

Hopefully it becomes clearer when considering that in February 2006, the Compagnie Jerome Thomas premiered Rain/Bow as a two-part “juggling ballet and contemporary circus show for 10 artists”. After pointing out that there is no prior history of juggling ballet, the show’s creator goes on to state that, “The objective here is to present a major piece of work, a reference, a basis for future variations, and new ballets!”
Which means, at the very least, moving juggling from the realm of circus arts into pure art.

With Rain/Bow, Thomas followed his conviction that juggling is an abstract art form rather than, as some commentators, notably Americans, would have it, a science or sport. The veteran juggler says that the juggling world is now infinitely more open than it was before so that it is possible to create the fusions between juggling and ballet or juggling and cabaret that Rain/Bow’s Rain and Bow respectively are.
For even while Rain and Bow are essentially a pair of distinct segments, together they make two halves of a study in contrast. Indeed, such is the difference between them that, whereas Rain brings to mind “one colour, calligraphy, atmosphere, sensuality [and] line” for Celerier, Bow conjures up “patchwork, nonsense, colourful, cabaret [and] humour”. Which bears out Thomas’s assertion that Rain was written as a long movement inspired by the simplicity of the brushstrokes of calligraphers and which evokes mystery and sensuality, while Bow is the opposite: an “explosion of colours”, “funny costumes”, and “juggling mixed with different forms of expression”.

It is also telling that over the course of Rain/Bow having been performed more than 100 times over the past couple of years, Bow has changed a lot more than Rain. Celerier points out that Thomas generally is “a great improviser. Jerome used to change things, even little things, even after a great number of shows. He is still working.” All of which implies audiences can truly expect the unexpected when this popular juggling show finally gets its Fragrant Harbour premiere this month.
The Compagnie Jerome Thomas will present Rain/Bow on June 2 and 3 at the Kwai Tsing Theatre’s Auditorium. Performances commence at 8pm each evening. Tickets are $300, $220 and $150 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.