Compagnie Bivouac: circus, poetry and thoughts on the world around us

Founded in 2011, Compagnie Bivouac is a circus collective based in Bordeaux creating original productions that question the human being behaviours, their relationship and their environment. Maryka Hassi and Benjamin Lissardy (co-founders) get inspired by a combination of circus innovations, sociological questioning and philosophical reflection. Their pieces are as poetic as they are grounded in contemporary reality, inviting spectators to explore new physical and human territories. Some of their shows are built around monumental sculpture-apparatus (A corps perdus – 2015, Tenir debout c’est crier toujours – 2017, Perceptions – 2019, Lemniscate – 2023), while others use astonishing processes to reveal what goes on deep inside matter (Translations – 2022, Fragments – 2023).

Rather than focusing on technique and virtuosity with known, scripted movement sequences, the company explores how the artist adapts to unstable, unusual apparatus. The idea is to transform instability into a source of creativity. Spontaneous movement then becomes the main material for the conception of original choreographies: new readings of the “spectacular” or the “emotional crescendo”, the foundations of traditional circus. The aim is to express a vision of the human condition in which balance is an ongoing quest in a world in motion.

Co-founders

Maryka Hassi

Trained at the Théâtre École d’Aquitaine, she has performed numerous roles in contemporary and classical plays. Since 2004, she has devoted herself to directing. Her creations take the form of tableaux. Maryka is the director of the Compagnie Bivouac, a company she co-founded with Maureen Brown and Benjamin Lissardy in 2011. For her, innovative scenographies are the symbolic objects capable of bringing about new forms of physicality, thereby multiplying the action or narrative. A way of creating a universe between reality and fiction. Challenging oneself, overcoming emptiness, accepting suspension… So many states of being, shared by all, that reveal, according to her, a humanity subjected to its hopes and its chaos. It is the encounter of these paradoxes that reveals a form of poetry.

She is interested in the social sciences, from which she draws her inspiration. Equally convinced that architecture defines our behavior, her research also focuses on « body-space ».

As a member of the École de Cirque de Bordeaux, she takes part in the artistic progress of the school specially what revolves around arts and science on experimental spaces.

Benjamin Lissardy

Benjamin has had a passion for snow sports since childhood. After graduating in drama, he worked with Pascale Daniel Lacombe, Pierre Debauche, Ariane Mouchkine and Maryka Hassi. Seeking to push back the limits of his body, he naturally turned to circus, collaborating with the Opéra de Bordeaux, Mourad Merzouki, Cirque Eloïze, Sae-Jung Kim, painter Jan Voss and many others…

In 2011, he co-founded the Compagnie Bivouac alongside Maureen Brown and Maryka Hassi. He takes part in the artistic questioning around art, science and digital technology that drives the collective.Through innovative set design using the visual arts and hybrid staging, he constantly pushed the potential of his apparatus: the Chinese pole. Recognized for his innovative work in this discipline, he cooperates internationally, teaches and is a guest judge in numerous events. Driven by the desire to push forward his discipline, he has been organizing an international Chinese pole convention in Bordeaux since 2015.

Benjamin holds a circus teacher’s diploma (DE), and promotes a unique approach to contemporary circus creation. At the École de Cirque de Bordeaux, he is the reference instructor for Chinese pole. He is also a Chinese pole trainer at the Académie Fratellini.

Ecological commitments

Involved in the ecological transition, the Compagnie Bivouac has put in place a policy that respects the environment at every level of its activity (production, tours, equipment, communication and events). To learn more about the company’s eco-responsible policy, click here.