Weaving an artful trance

Even as Hyderabad is widening its realms of theater, music and fine art, French performance company Transe Express is set to combine all of them in their performance here. The event, Celestial Carillon, is being brought to India for the first time by Bonjour India and will take place on Tuesday evening at People’s Plaza on Necklace Road. For those unaware, carillon is a musical instrument comprising several bells. An orchestra of bell-ringers, aerialists and face artists are all set to bewitch the audience. The sound of the bells can apparently be heard by thousands of people in the surrounding areas — a first for Hyderabad.

The famous Alexander Calder is the person who has inspired the team: Gilles Rhode, Brigitte Burdin, Leo Guillemaud, Nicole Ragaigne and Jean Marc Chaix. “Gilles and Brigitte started 35 years ago as street performers in France — which is a common thing there. The tradition of street performance grew in the country and they started performing in big cities. The size of the team also grew over the years. 13 artistes are set to perform today in Hyderabad and then in Chennai and Delhi. We are performing in India for the first time and we’re really excited. We don’t know how the audience is going to receive us or what they are expecting from us, but we are hoping for the best!” says Nicole, with a wide smile.

The team has been to Charminar, Laad Bazaar and the Buddha Statue on Necklace Road and is loving the experience! Offering further insight into their performance, Gilles shares, “We do aerial performances outdoors to captivate the audience completely. There are going to be many dancers, singers, acrobats, bell ringers, percussionists and other technicians. Each year, we give 100 performances all over the world.”

Notably, the team has been practicing rigorously for the past couple of days. “The practice has been good, we will erect the sets soon and begin the rehearsals. Hyderabad wouldn’t have seen anything like our performance before, so we cannot wait to stun them! Our last performance was in England and the audience there is different. We hope Hyderabad loves some good music, dance and stunts!” concludes Brigitte.