By observing bodies in motion as one would observe the changing nature of the world, the acrobats of Collectif XY capture the metamorphoses of life and the passage of time in a poetic and musical performance.

Following Möbius, a creation conceived in collaboration with Rachid Ouramdane, in which the collective reenacted the mysterious score of starlings flying by the hundreds in a choreographed ballet, XY now explores our relationship to life and the measurement of time. Lifts and acrobatics translate and intertwine two temporalities: that of a human life, its emotions and transformations from childhood to old age; and that of nature, whose rhythm transcends our understanding. What is the time of a mountain, a forest, a river? How can we depict and represent it in terms of a life? The Pas du Monde forms, transforms, and deforms the human columns of acrobats, who can imperceptibly shift from one posture to another, like the slow erosion of a mountaintop, but also project themselves into sudden transformations, the pyramids of pebble-like bodies tumbling into scree. A sophisticated system combines lights, sounds, breaths, and voices—those of circus performers as well as two singers—to create dreamlike landscapes.