From the 1st to 3rd of November, 2019, the City of Calais will discover Le Dragon de Calais during spectacular celebrations. Freed from the subterranean worlds, the Dragon of Calais is heading for the city. This new creation built by La Machine Company will roam the city, manipulated by 17 people who give him life. This big show in the streets of Calais will be the festive prologue to the dragon’s public introduction as a «City Machine» : La Compagnie du Dragon.
“Beneath the thick crust of the earth runs a maze of deep galleries which connect the seas and the continents. Sometimes, these galleries branch out and widen until they create worlds. Fantastical creatures inhabit these galleries. Large human settlements are the gateways out of this subterranean labyrinth, they open up the passages that connect the underground world to our world. Since the dawn of time, these «gateways» have been sealed and held shut by sacred stones. The Dragons are the world’s gatekeepers. It is they who maintain balance. Dragons exist in all shapes and colours, they possess enormous powers and every dragon is unique. The Dragon of Calais is fire, air, earth and water… he has always watched over the lands and seas of the north. Dragons only appear to humans in situations of extreme need, to settle a conflict or to allay an evil. They are naturally benevolent but can also be wild and unpredictable.“
Le Dragon de Calais – From 1st to 3rd november 2019
A street show of La Machine Company and François Delaroziere, commissioned by the City of Calais.
The show The Guardian of the Temple is the last François Delaroziere‘s shows. This show runs in the city of the streets of Toulouse, a veritable natural labyrinth. Two monumental machines, the Minotaure and a giant Spider reinterpret, alongside the myth of Ariane.
This show was an introduction to the installation of the cultural and touristic equipment of La Halle de La Machine in the district of Montaudran around the historic runway of the air postal service now known as La Piste des Géants (the Runway of the Giants).
The Aeroflorale ll, a new generation flying greenhouse, travels the world collecting plants. On each stopover, its team of scientists present their latest findings in the field of phytovoltaism.
It is a symphonic workshop that the audience is invited to. Suddenly, everything changes, images and sounds appear from everywhere. As they move through the space, the audience modify their perceptions – seeing and hearing from afar, or crossing the performing space and being at the heart of the workshop, to feel the heat of the flames, the smells, to go around all of the musicians, the operators, the actors and the music machines. What takes place reveals a subtle blend of the senses.
The symphony is also born out of the interaction between machine operators and classical musicians. The musical environment comes face to face with the mechanical sounds of a flute cooker, a tumbling piano and the Groovagaz… producing a piece of music that is constantly evolving : a classical orchestra, 50 music machines, music loving operators – a 360° audio and visual experience.
On april 29, 2015, the news had made the front page of the Mechanical Science and Human Archaeology magazine : a group of scientists have discovered a new type of living being. The DNA of this «structure» was removed from sites located in a geographical area close to the place of the play. The analysis of the detected genome suggests that this form of life is not completely extinct …
The article report that new DNA structures were to be found in several sites within a 120km zone around Chateau-Gontier (France). The genome analysis has revealed that the creature might be still alive. The research team of La Machine has been dispatched to the site to study the case.
The idea is to reinvent the way to prepare and present food by means of machines and small mechanisms to be handled skilfully. Dining and conviviality are at the heart of this production with live support from unusual masters of ceremony. Paired up with the inventiveness of a great chef of contemporary gastronomy, this is an exceptional moment bringing together conviviality, gastronomy and… engineering !
a CLEVER MIX OF FIRE AND fireworks, FLAMMES OFFERS UP A SUCCESSION OF sceneS, adorns or transforms URBAN SPACES, and walks AUDIENCEs around for A NEW VISION Of THEir CITY.
Beyond the pyrotechnic performance alone, this artistic production is also about a meeting between the pyrotechnists-builders from La Machine and the inhabitants, over the lighting up of their own city. Through their presence in the city over several days, all Flammes’ installations – braziers, stove huts, candles, bonfires – become spaces for human exchange. Because inhabitants are involved upstream in the project, they become stakeholders in the unfolding performance
A large-scaled production WHERE A DRAGON-HORSE ENCOUNTERS A GIANT SPIDER IN A DOWNPOUR OF SOUNDs AND SPECIAL EFFECTS.
François Delarozière created this extraordinary work, drawing inspiration from the Chinese legend The Godess Nüwa. Nüwa is the creator of mankind. As the climate changes, she worries about the men she has created. She decides to send her emissary, the spirit of the Dragon-Horse, to help them and fix the sky. However, the Giant Spider, instigator of chaos, crosses Long Ma’s path and lays traps that Long Ma will have to evade…
Created as part of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Franco-Chinese relations
Produced by François Delarozière and La Machine, music by Mino Malan
Produced by Winland Creative Foundation
THE BEST WAY TO APPROaCH THIS PYROTECHNIC AND CULINARY FAIR, IS AS A GOURMET keen on STRONG SENSATIONS.
Candle shooting, flamed peach, a roasting spit or a chocolate machine are the highlights of this production that comes straight from the great tradition of fairground arts. Here, the actors become operators and lead the audience as they discover eight stalls that tantalize both the eyes and the tastebuds !
With this new creation, La Machine offers up a return to the world of our childhood and of farce. Delicacies and delights, but also unexpected flavours await you at the bottom of staged cooking pots and on the end of quaint fishing rods.
THIS IS THE STORY OF THE MEETING BETWEEN A CITY, HUMAN BEINGS AND THEIR GIANT PERFORMING ANIMALS, LES MÉCANIQUES SAVANTES.
Les Mécaniques Savantes, for which the company created two giant spiders, was performed for the first time in Liverpool, European Capital of Culture in 2008, and then in Yokohama in 2009. For each city, we create a new project, a new object.
Every production is different. Other Mécaniques Savantes are expected to turn up at planned major world events. These giant performing animals love to appear at large human gatherings. On each occasion, La Machine Company studies them and operates them throughout the city, thus transforming it into a scenic space.
These machines feed an unusual vision of theatre, reading movement as a language, and in turn a source of emotion. The operators, engines, animals and musicians intermingle, confront and tune in with each other, thus creating images that change our relationship with the city, suddenly transformed.
