C’est la fête is an aerial circus show with the theme of a French celebration in the sky, which will be presented at the Adelaide Fringe 2025 festival. Mathilde is one of the aerial artists from the Aerial Artists Adelaide troupe. She talks to us about the show.
Mathilde, you’re one of the artists in the show C’est la fête which is coming to Adelaide Fringe. Tell us about the show.
C’est la fête is a show showcasing mainly aerial disciplines, with well-known apparatus as well as others created especially for this production. It’s not just fabric and trapeze: some disciplines have been specially designed for the show. It’s fascinating to see the diversity of the apparatus and the way each artist uses them.
It’s not a show with a story or a common thread, but rather a succession of tableaux presenting the artists. There is no set and the environment remains sober, with only music and lighting effects to accompany a bevy of aerial apparatus, each more astonishing than the last.
The cast rotates, with some numbers set in stone, and there’s even an opportunity for students from the school to take part and train to perform on stage.
This year’s theme is France, a symbol of chic and elegance. Craig wanted to retain the spirit of the Fringe by incorporating a festive dimension. So the show gradually ramps up the intensity: we start off with some gentle numbers, then the pace and volume rise to a crescendo until we’re celebrating!
Have you ever performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival?
Yes, I’ve been taking part in shows put on by Aerial Artists Adelaide for two years now. The first year I performed on one night only, doing a routine created by Craig, our coach. Last year, I had the chance to create my own duet routine with a Finnish friend, and we were able to perform it on several nights.
This year, we’ve fine-tuned our routine and our costumes, and we’ve found a very powerful song that perfectly matches what we wanted to convey: a cover of SOS from an earthling in distress. You can catch us every night at the opening of C’est la fête!
QUESTIONS ABOUT MATHILDE
Are you French? How long have you been in Adelaide and Australia? What made you decide to come to Australia in the first place?
Yes, I’m French, from the beautiful south-west of Béarn!
On 3 March, I’ll be celebrating my fifth anniversary in Australia! Like any self-respecting backpacker, I travelled around the country a lot, but after a year and a half I settled in Adelaide. So I’ve been living here for about three and a half years now. Time flies!
Why Australia? I’m often asked that question! I’ve always loved travelling. Having grown up in a very small village, I was very dependent on my parents to get me around. So, when I was 18, I left the family nest to study in Toulouse, and thanks to a number of study programmes, I was lucky enough to spend six months in Sweden, a year in Canada and six months in Belgium.
Since I was a little girl, Australia has always attracted me. Up until then, each of my trips had been well planned: accommodation, university, etc. But I wanted to try a more spontaneous adventure, to leave without a plan, just book a week in a youth hostel, and see what happened. It was a real personal challenge: starting from scratch, confronting the unknown and myself! Australia is the perfect place for this kind of experience, where everything can be decided at the last minute.
But to be honest, there was another reason… A relationship break-up! At the end of a fixed-term contract, freshly single, I asked myself: what did I want to do before I met this person? Answer: travel! So, two weeks after the break-up, I booked my tickets for Australia… and here I am!
You’re an aerial artist with Aerial Artists Adelaide. How long have you been doing aerial circus? What do you like about aerial circus?
I started training with Aerial Artists Adelaide as soon as I arrived in Adelaide. But in reality, I discovered the circus very young: I was introduced to it at the age of five. For me, it was first and foremost a sport, an extracurricular activity. We put on shows at the end of the year, but I never imagined that 25 years later I’d be standing on stage in front of an Australian audience!
Over the years, I’ve tried my hand at a bit of everything: juggling, tightrope walking, balancing, trampolining… but I’ve always preferred aerial apparatus, like Chinese pole or silk.
Heights have always fascinated me. I also do a lot of cliff climbing. But there’s something even more elegant about aerial circus: it’s like dancing in the air. It’s both very physical and incredibly graceful. In those suspended moments, it’s just me, my body in motion and the fabric. I also love the infinite number of figures you can imagine and create.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SHOW
Tell us about your performance in C’est la fête.
It’s a duet, as I mentioned earlier, which is quite short – about 4 minutes – and we worked a lot on the link and the connection between us. Throughout the performance, we tried to maintain this connection, whether through physical contact, by holding hands, or by a connection through fabric. We also worked on the occupation of space, with movements that follow a kind of curve to create a fluid dynamic: the performance starts close to the ground, rises gradually, then descends gently until the final separation.
This routine is also based on trust and risk: at any moment, one of us can let go, which adds an extra challenge. It’s a physically demanding routine. Where some aerial artists focus primarily on the aesthetics of movement, we wanted to incorporate a dimension of strength while retaining an impression of lightness and fluidity.
How many artists perform in the show? Are they all from Adelaide?
As I mentioned earlier, we have a rotating cast, which means that every night is different. Over 55 artists take part in C’est La Fête! But each evening, between 15 and 20 artists will perform on stage.
We all live in Adelaide, but much like Australia, there are a multitude of cultures present in this great team: Finland, Argentina, Colombia, Slovakia, Vietnam, France, etc.
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We thank Mathilde for this interview and look forward to seeing C’est la Fête at the Adelaide Fringe this weekend.
KEY INFO FOR C’EST LA FÊTE
WHAT: C’est la fête
WHEN: 6 performances only:
10:40pm Friday 21 February and 28 February
4.30pm Saturday 22 February and 1 March
4:30 p.m. Sunday, February 23 and March 2
WHERE: The Vault @ Fool’s Paradise, Victoria Square ADELAIDE
HOW: Buy your tickets via this link
HOW MUCH: Tickets cost $39. There are discounted tickets for BankSA customers but only for certain dates.
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Discover more Adelaide Fringe shows with French and Francophone links here.
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