Helena Bittencourt and Goos Meeuwsen
tekstThe clown duo performs several clown acts in Cirque Bouffon (2012 - 2016 shows SOLVO and NANDU), Created the outside performance 30 MIN TO SHINE using as a stage a mini blue Van in the Doetinchem street art festival in 2012. In 2013 in collaboration with the orchestra Ensemble L Autre Monde and invited by the Academy of Art Performance of Frankfurt they wrote, directed and performed the theatrical concert Playing for Eurydice. In the same year they participate and performed in the contemporary dance creation of Cristina Moura Philodendrus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In 2014 they direct and perform with Coletivo Oh! Céus! the comic play o Crocodile based on a unfinished novel by Fiodor Dostoievski at the Parque das Ruínas, Rio de Janeiro.
They worked assisting the director Daniele Finzi Pasca for the closing ceremony of the winter Olympics and the open ceremony of the paraolympics in Sochi, Russia.
They also created Mar Aberto, with the prize Fomento, given by the city of Rio de Janeiro. Inspired by the novel The Old Man And The Sea of Ernest Hemingway, the musical, clown and circus performance took place in a giant piano of 7 meters in the center of the city.
With stichting touchstones (Arnhem, Netherlands) and in collaboration with local designers, volunteers, jazz musicians and acrobats from different nationalities, they created, played and directed Fashionata, Cirque de la mode at the Eusebius church (2014), and STROOM -, DURF! - and HOOP! Cirque de la Liberté respectively in 2015, 2016, 2017, the three creations in the ASM Harbor in Arnhem and being part of the Arnhem Fashion and Design Festival, The performances are reaching every year an audience of around five thousand people.
In 2014, was the creation of the theater and clown show Bianco su Bianco written and directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, and a production of Compagnia Finzi Pasca (Ticino, Zwitserland) since its premiere the show has had over a 100 performances, touring in many cities in different countries. Among those Zwitserland, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Uruguay, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Canada,Romania. On the moment Bianco su Bianco is still touring.
In 2016 Goos and Helena wrote and direct the Modern Circus performance SCINTILLA invited by the Circus Company Cirqu’en Choc in collaboration and sponsored by Amnesty International. SCINTILLA is a show about the Human Rights and had its premiered in Sion, Zwitserland and will be touring the upcoming year.
Directly after the creation and the performances of HumanActs, in collaboration with De Kempenear Advocaten and stichting touchstones, (City Theater of Arnhem, The Netherlands) the duo was invited to collaborate on the Emmy award nominated comedy television show ZORRA with short scenes filmed in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Goos Meeuwsen
Arnhem, The Netherlands
Since his early childhood Goos Meeuwsen wanted to be a clown. He made his first appearance in a show at the age of 10 and has not left the stage since. He studied at the École Nationale de Cirque de Montréal where he completed his diploma in 2004, specializing as a clown. By the end of his studies he was already invited by Cirque du Soleil to participate in the new Las Vegas Show, The Beatles Love, where he performed the leading part for one and a half years.
Always looking for new inspiration, he has since then worked with many different circus troupes and theatre companies, festivals around the world with his own clown work and
he was part of the creation process and performance of several pieces as actor, clown, and dancer/acrobat including,
Paradis Perdu by Dominic Champagne in (Montreal,Canada) Aaatchoum from theatre le l”Aubergine (Quebec Canada) Adios, a coproduction with Gabriel Rosas in (The Netherlands /Argentina ) and Angell of Cirque Bouffon and GOP Variete in Germany.
He directed the circus show Coulisse for Circus Starlight (Switzerland) and the outside show for the Canadian House at the world Expo 2010 in Shanghai China. Goos Meeuwsen is a winner of the Annie Fratellini Prize of the Cirque de Demain Festival (Paris) for his clown work.
Helena Bittencourt
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
She made her first appearance on stage at the age of seven and instantly fell in love with the theater. At the same time of her studies at the Theater University in Brazil (Uni-rio) she graduated at the National Circus School of Brazil and started to work in the combination of those two arts. She was part of the cast of Cirque du Soleil in the creation and show Corteo as an acrobat, clown and singer. There is where she first met the Director Daniele Finzi Pasca who invited to take part of Finzi Pasca’s company she has been part of the creation and cast of Donka a letter to Chekov on world tour for 5 years in important theaters and Festivals around the world. She also collaborated for many years with other companies as a director, performer and singer, acting and doing acrobatics, between them Manicomics Teatre (Italy) , Intrepida Trupe ( Brazil) Circus Klezmer and Circ Ozo ( Spain) and compania Ensaio Aberto in the musical Havana Cafe (Brazil). She founded the Coletivo OH! Ceus! Where she directed and adapted Noites Brancas and Directed O Crocodilo. She also regularly performs as a singer and actress in Rio de Janeiro as she wrote and played different projects on short movies and performances as well.
