VÝŠ (HIGHER) / tYhle

Florent Golfier (FR) and Lukáš Karásek (CZ) in a world determined by just two forces: gravity and the desire to reach new heights. With one movement, they lean a ladder against its shadow and step confidently into the void.

Performance on 7th April is a part of Czech Dance Platform and it's capacity is fully reserved for festival guests. Therefore it isn't possible to reserve/buy tickets. PRESALE IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR 5TH APRIL. - thanks for understanding.

The latest production by the tYhle physical theater ensemble takes us into a world that looks like ours only on the surface: two performers versus one strange object with rungs and stringers. They want to get to the top, but the outcome is uncertain: they chase after the vague possibility that it will be better up there, their movements more relaxed and their minds freer. But gravity is a selfish force that transforms their every step. And it’s not their only obstacle. They must also overcome the mad impetuousness with which they try to reach their goal: if you’re going to reach higher, then at least by the most convoluted route possible!

Florent Golfier (*1990) was born in the French town of Nancy, where he first studied theatre. He later ended up at the Studio for Clown, Stage, and Film Creation at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in Brno, where he began to work with physical theatre and modern dance. In 2014, he created an original solo piece, Umbilicus, and since 2013 he has collaborated with Lukáš Karásek on various projects, including Tešlon and Frkl, Les Fantômes, and Pierer, which they have performed both in the Czech Republic and abroad. He has also performed in other people’s works, including Pisum Sativum (Karine Ponties, 2012), Anatomy of the Body in Dance (Carlo Locatelli, 2014), Out of Service (Vít Nezval, 2015), and 12 (Kitt Johnson, 2015), as well as the tYhle ensemble’s One (Marie Gourdain, 2016).

Lukáš Karásek (*1989) hails from Třinec and graduated from the Waldorf Lyceum in Ostrava, where he was introduced to theater by Hanka Štrbová when she accepted him to the Wicca student ensemble. After four years with the group, he applied to JAMU’s Studio for Clown, Stage, and Film Creation, where he studied under Pierre Nadaud and found his calling in movement theatre and the theatre of masks. He also studied commedia dell’arte in Florence under Giovanni Fusetti. He graduated from JAMU in 2013, but still teaches “The Theatre of Masks” there. Also after graduation, he began to collaborate with Florent Golfier, and together they founded the tYhle theater ensemble, which has produced the performances Tešlon and Frkl, Les Fantômes, Umbilicus, Pierer, and One. Lukáš also works with the Zlín Theater Center on Czech-English educational performances for young people, and appears with a group of clowns at performances for Brno’s Re-Kabaret at the Bolek Polívka Theatre. In addition to working in the theatre, he spent over a year earning a living as a carpenter.

Concept, performers: Florent Golfier, Lukáš Karásek
Dramaturgical support: Marek Menšík
Stage design: Marie Gourdain
Lighting design: Zuzana Režná
Music: Matouš Hejl
Creation of props: Jakub Ryvola
Acrobatic assistance: Stephanie N'Duhirahe
Producers: Andrea Švandová, Soňa Alexová, Simona Vičarová
Special thanks: Pierre Nadaud
Thanks to: Eliška Brtnická, Prokop Vondruška, Dominique Rebaud, Petra Kateřina Bučková