About the Artists

Raphaëlle Boitel began her career as a young girl when she and her family ran away to join the circus. A mesmerizing contortionist and aerialist, Ben Brantley of the New York Times called her “truly ravishing.” Noticed by Annie Fratellini, she joined the National School of Circus Arts Fratellini in 1992. From 1998 to 2010, she worked closely with James Thierrée in La Symphonie du Hanneton – The Junebug Symphony (French tour and international tour from 1998 to 2006), then in La Veillée des Abysses (2003 to 2010). She has since matured into a burgeoning director with a distinctive visual style and a dramatic spatial sense. Her storytelling is singular, her ability to transform space in the air to the ground with large scale illusions and bodies streaming across the stage is magical. American audiences were largely introduced to Boitel’s boundless talents in 2016 with her luminous directorial debut The Forgotten. The U.S. Premiere tour of When Angels Fall brings Boitel to Boston in February 2019.
 

"As a performer we’ve always been drawn to her compelling stage presence and extraordinary fluid body movement. She has a beautiful wild animal quality that flies far beyond the conventional genre of aerial dance. She has since matured into a burgeoning director with a distinctive visual style and a dramatic spatial sense. Her storytelling is singular, her ability to transform space in the air to the ground with large scale illusions and bodies streaming across the stage is magical."

- Crying Out Loud (London)