Les Commandos Percu
International street arts company
Participative projects consist in creating a large scale performance alongside with non-professional artists or/and local communities. Participants are trained by Les Commandos Percu to develop a project from its composition to its concrete fulfilment.
Pedagogy of rhythm alongside fireworks provide tools and material to create a powerful event as a result of artists and trainees’ work.
Workshops sessions can be run over a couple of days or several weeks depending on the project scale and the number of people involved.
Participants will be initiated to rhythm, musical instruments creation, pyrotechnics and the creation of a unique performance in their city. Workshops are open to teenagers over 14 as well as adults which constitute “the Night Shifters” with the artists of the company . This work leads to a unique creation, a big moment of sharing and emotion.
An introduction to a specific way of writing rhythm.
The sticks method is a teaching method used to formalize rhythm, write it down, read it and finally play it. This is a method turned towards non-professionals who do not know music theory. However, sticks method was born from a very complex rhythm that professional musicians have had problems playing despite the score. When those little geometric signs appeared, the music finally came out. Little sticks method is a simple and powerful tool for writing and memorizing rhythm but also for analyzing and creating new rhythm figures.
>> 60’’ to discover the Sticks Method - video online
Workshops content
It is not strictly speaking a Masterclass with demos etc… but an opportunity for musicians from different backgrounds to meet and learn from each other’s perception of rhythm, learning, exploring, memorizing and writing it down.
It is a simple and logical way to write down, memorize and analyse rhythm. This method has shown itself to be very useful when teaching rhythm to beginners. It is also a formidable tool for professional musicians, no matter their instruments. Only a few hours of workshop are enough for them to appropriate this technic and develop a personal way of using it: it is clearly the Linux for rhythm! We explore many examples during the workshop. Any participant can bring a rhythm he finds particularly difficult or beyond his understanding. He will realize that there is for sure an easy way of writing it down and creating many complex rhythmical arrangements that will be easy to memorize and pass down.
2017 : 20th anniversary of Les Années Joué festival, Joué les Tours FR
2016 : Creation of a large parade opening to Les Commandos Percu’s show Clash of Drums :
River of Light, Liverpool UK & Freedom Festival, Hull UK
2015 : Rugby World Cup, Milton Keynes UK
« The experience was incredible : working with groups that have such a different approach to performance, fusing music and pyrotechnics in such a theatrical way was incredibly inspiring. »
Juliana Landim co-director at Katumba - River of Light 2016 Liverpool UK« The project surpassed everyone’s expectations. All participants describe it as a life changing experience ! »
Chloe Birr-Pixon project manager at Hull Samba - Freedom Festival 2016 Hull UK
Fête de la Saint Paul à Sarreguemines (F), 2014 / Les Enfants du Charbon (F), every year since 2013 / Festival Les Noctibules (F), 2013 / Perth Internationl Arts Festival (AUS), 2013 / London 2012 Festival, Windermere and Preston (UK), 2012 / Festival Les Accroche-Coeurs d'Angers (F), 2010 / Lakes Alive, Manchester International Arts, Maryport (UK), 2010 / De l'ombre à la lumière (F), December 2008 / Pledeliac (F), July 2008 / Cirkostard, Ville d'Ajaccio, June 2006 / « Foyer » à Flin (F), création pour les 60 ans des Foyers Ruraux de Meurthe et Moselle, August 2009 / Les Odyssées Ambésiennes (F), August 2005 / La Roche-Sur-Yon (F), April 2007 / La Vallée des Délices d'Europe, Saint Astier (F), June 2006 / St Leu (La Réunion F), May 2002 / Arles (F), March 2002.
