Tap dancing of swimming pool fluorescent yellow feet, a singular character counts methodically on the public came to applaud at the Friche de la Belle de Mai, cultural place emblematic of Marseille. Is it a man, is it a robot? If it seems to be alive and well, he has the gait stiff and takes corners at right angles as an android, on a video game music of the 1990s. Very quickly, the human robot was joined by two men with the look of scientific slightly foldingues. “Once there was Antoine, sets an ominous tone. Antoine runs in circles. But Anthony has a revelation when he discovers that the spheres revolve.” The intonation and the words métaphysico-comedy of the narrator to cause the hilarity of the spectators.

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Relieved of his sandals by his companions who leave it alone, Antoine Key then dive barefoot into the mysterious world of circular objects. Absurd? Yes, but a poetic nonsense. What makes all the charm of Spheres curious , creation will be presented for the first time, on the occasion of the opening weekend of the third Biennale of the circus arts. In this show of great creativity, created by the Company of the circus unfinished, the technology revisits a circus discipline as old as the juggling to give it a full renewal.

Thus, when Antoine mania, the white bullets, he is lying ; but a large screen, placed at the bottom of the room, shows a different perspective and gives the illusion that the artist is considering eliminating the force of gravity. The balls seem to fly freely, in a graceful ballet. When he crawls on the ground, he gives the impression to climb an invisible wall. Magic or science? The balls begin to tournicoter, in a hypnotic spiral. The illusion is perfect, the public already conquered.

The hero unfolds on the screen, and then increases to infinity

Continuing his exploration of the worlds spherical, our hero finds himself split when he crosses the screen and gets to play ball with another himself, who appears in the video. Once the process launched, nothing can stop it, and the self-proclaimed “adventurer” quantum eventually multiplied to infinity, under the eyes of his alter ego in the flesh.

● The artist and his (its) double(s) virtual(s)

But Antoine has not finished adventures. Gradually engulfed by a large white sphere, he starts to bounce on stage to the delight of the public. Then, it binds friendship with another sphere of dimension more modest, who, after some hesitations, resolves to follow him of itself. Finally, as the shelf is found immersed in the dark, new balls fluorescent appear. The hero begins to juggle, leaving in the air of beautiful streaks of blue.

The adventurer contemporary completes its journey to the country of the science, but the show is not yet finished. Anthony Key reserves a small surprise to the assistance already completely under the spell: drones of light that he controls with his arm, behind a net to prevent them from getting lost in the room. Or rather, he tries to control: “the technology is not yet fully developed, so it is out of spectacle,” he warns. Actually, the small flying machines flashing blue struggle a little to take off, but eventually get there, under the applause of the public. A beautiful conclusion to this show, which is full of tenderness and humor, making the bold gamble to unite circus and science.

● Antoine Key and its drones

Spheres curious : the next dates in the Center Brassens of Saint-Martin-Boulogne (Pas-de-Calais) on 8 and 9 march, and then to the MAC of Sallaumines on 12 and 15 march.