Phia Ménard

Phia Ménard is a French artist who transformed juggling and contemporary circus by treating unstable materials as active collaborators rather than objects to master. Born in 1971, Ménard trained across juggling, contemporary dance, mime and acting under formative teachers Jérôme Thomas and choreographer Hervé Diasnas, whose emphasis on "the practice of the dancer"—walking, weight and presence—expanded how she understood performance beyond virtuosity alone.

In 1998, Ménard founded Compagnie Non Nova with Claire Massonnet around a single maxim: *Non nova, sed nove*—"We invent nothing; we see it differently." This principle rejected juggling's conventional focus on mastery and rhythm in favor of resistance, failure and theatrical consequence. Her 2001 solo *Ascenseur* established her emerging voice as a choreographic author.

In 2008, Ménard initiated the I.C.E. research—*Injonglabilité Complémentaire des Éléments* (complementary unjugglability of elements)—a sustained investigation into performance with materials that behave unpredictably. Rather than controlling neutral objects, the performer encounters substances that melt, evaporate, blow away, soak, collapse or change temperature. *P.P.P.*, created that same year, placed ice at the center of this inquiry: 120 ice balls, each initially weighing two kilograms, whose precise material state made them simultaneously usable, hazardous and temporary. The I.C.E. framework grounded transformation as a shared stage condition between body and matter.

Wind supplied a different partner. Works including *L'après-midi d'un foehn Version 1* and *VORTEX* animated light plastic forms through fans and carefully shaped currents, distributing choreographic authorship across bodies, airflow, objects, sound and architecture. *Belle d'Hier* extended the elemental research into water and vapor. *Maison Mère*, commissioned in relation to documenta 14 and co-directed with Jean-Luc Beaujault, staged the laborious construction and destruction of a monumental cardboard shelter as both physical and conceptual labor.

Ménard's practice expanded into wider institutional contexts. *Saison Sèche* was presented at Festival d'Avignon in 2018, followed by the three-part *Trilogie des Contes Immoraux (pour Europe)* in 2021. She has directed opera and created work for major dance and theatre institutions. Recent projects including *ART.13* (Lyon Dance Biennale, 2023) and *Nocturne (Parade)* extend her questioning into social violence, ruins and politically darkened environments.

Compagnie Non Nova remains a production ecology rather than a solitary vision. Claire Massonnet co-directs and administers the company; collaborators like composer Ivan Roussel shape each work's sonic and material life. Across her career, Ménard has transformed juggling from the manipulation of stable objects into a negotiation with unstable worlds.