BIOGRAPHY

“Théâtre à Tempo” is a non-profit organization founded in Quebec City in 2008. Its mission is to create and produce high quality multidisciplinary shows. In all of its creations, the À Tempo team focuses on using rhythm and movement in an original way. A Tempo also reserves a privileged place for clownish play, circus and body percussion in every one of its productions.

All the À tempo shows rely on a similar creation process: the writing of original scenarios, the search for characters (comic, most of the time, but also touching and sensitive) and the music and sound effects composition based on a unique quest for unconventional instruments such as kitchen tools, toys, and many other objects.
Thanks to the generous support of the “Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec”, Québec City’s “Service de la Culture” and several other partners, the “Théâtre À Tempo” is proud to have produced shows that can be presented in theatres, street shows, festivals or any other type of event.

The starting point for all our creations is the simple and pure joy of play. A joy that takes us back to the curiosity and innocence of childhood. Our shows feature funny but touching narrative arcs inspired by the vulnerabilities and little mishaps of everyday life, which sometimes transform us into clowns despite ourselves. Like silent films, our creations charm audiences with no need for speech.

Then comes the love of sounds. The ones we create by beating on, plucking and rubbing anything and everything we can find. The ones that breathe new life into old, abandoned objects.

In our shows, music punctuates and plays off the physical theatre of the characters. Performed live, halfway between sound effects and a soundtrack, it supports and carries the characters’ emotions. The exclamations and laughter of the audience complete the score. This spontaneous conversation between artist and audience offers them both something unique and tangible.

Our productions speak to a wide range of audiences, charming children as well as their parents with multi-layered humor.

THE GREAT STUDY

Two eccentric scientific musicians discover the perfect subjects for their latest research project, clownishly serious. Three wild and crazy characters become guinea pigs for a battery of tests measuring the effect of sounds and rhythms on the human race. From tiny musical instruments to great physical achievements, La Grande Étude surprises and seduces everyone.

AWARDS

·Winner of the Développement international Ville de Québec prize (Quebec City’s international development prize) at the Bourse Rideau in 2011.

·Winner of the RIDEAU ROSEQ prize in 2010​

Geneviève Kérouac

Geneviève started learning music at the tender young age of 6 at an arts school, where she studied violin and piano every day. After becoming a gymnast as a teenager, she attended École de Cirque de Québec, graduating in 2000.

Her professional career kicked off with Cirque Éos, where she performed as a clown and on aerial straps and aerial square. Between 2002 and 2010, she continued her training as a clown with Francine Coté, René Bazinet, Soizick Hébert and Michel Dallaire.

During this period, she also pursued a career as a professional swing dancer. A two-time world champion (2005 and 2007), she taught different swing dances (Lindy Hop, Charleston, blues and Balboa) locally and internationally (Europe, Australia and the Americas).

Geneviève co-founded Théatre À Tempo in 2008 and is currently the managing director of the company. She is also an artistic advisor and the head of the clowning program at École de Cirque de Québec. She has directed multiple shows for the school’s professional program, including Passages Forains (2009), Le Bal des Mariés (2014) and Scrap (2017).

Today, Geneviève serves as a director, advisor and choreographer for a number of circus, music and theatre companies.

Olivier Forest

Olivier was one of those kids who started pounding on things as soon as he was old enough to hold a stick. He rocked his way through his teen years, then expanded his horizons with studies in classical percussion at cegep. Continuing to cultivate his left and right brain, he took jazz drumming in university, becoming more and more mentally ambidextrous in the process. He then dove head first into circus, more specifically clowning, a decision that would leave an indelible mark on the rest of his career. He has been creating music and soundscapes with unusual objects for a long time, integrating his art into all kinds of shows for multiple theatre companies. 

Olivier founded his own company, Théâtre À Tempo, with which he has performed more than 1,500 shows. The company’s creations are a whimsical mix of Olivier’s different passions— music, percussion, movement, theatre, and the intense silliness of clowning—and he has won a number of prizes for his work. He was officially diagnosed with a terrible disease: the obsession of scavenging for ANYTHING that can produce sounds. From whoopie cushions and rattles to horns of every kind, he has amassed a collection of over 1,000 objects. For ten years now, he has been trying to cure himself of his condition with a remedy called body percussion. Despite frequent relapses, he showed good progress at the four most recent editions of the International Body Music Festival in Istanbul, San Francisco, Bali and Paris.

From all-terrain drums and percussion to the musical manipulation of objects, theatre, circus and especially clowning, he will always find a way to use his own body to create rhythme.

Benoît Lemay

Benoît started playing music when he was five years old and has been performing circus on stage since he was 15. He learned juggling, Chinese pole, Russian bar and clowning during his years in the professional program at École de Cirque de Québec. He toured with Cirque Éos from 1998 to 2002, sharing his passion with the public. In 1995, he cofounded the juggling-unicycling quartet “Les Tourisk,” with whom he has performed all over the world. The Tourisk also won the gold medal and People’s Choice Award at the 1997 International Juggling Association festival in Las Vegas.

In 2004, he helped create the stilt trio “Les Gargouilles.” A runaway success from the moment they first took to the streets, the trio performed at the Just for Laughs Festival and the Festival d’été de Québec many years in a row. In 2008, Cirque du Soleil called on his juggling services for a special event created especially for Quebec’s 400th celebrations by the renowned company. He cofounded Théâtre À Tempo that same year, a company oriented towards the creation and production of multidisciplinary shows mixing music, rhythm, clown and movement. The company’s first production, La Grande Étude, has been performed over 500 times since it was created. His role on the team goes well beyond the stage. You’ll find him in the lighting booth, behind the wheel for mile after mile when touring, designing the company’s website, fixing whatever needs fixing, or on the phone making sure the technical direction is going as planned. He is always somewhere making it all come together. Even with his involvement with À Tempo, he still finds the time to collaborate with other companies. Highly passionate, he’s always expanding his knowledge and experience.

China Tour Schedule

2019.08.02|Changzhou

2019.08.03|Shanghai

2019.08.04|Wuxi

2019.08.06|Suzhou

2019.08.08|Hangzhou

2019.08.10|Zhuji

2019.08.12|Cixi

2019.08.14|Lishui

2019.08.18|Xiamen

2019.08.16|Fuzhou

2019.08.20|Huizhou

2019.08.21|Zhuhai

2019.08.23|Fuling

2019.08.24|Chongqing

2019.08.26|Dongguan

2019.08.28|Nanning