Jeanne Mordoj

Born in Paris in 1970, Jeanne Mordoj spent her childhood in the country with sculptor-parents who also raised goats. She has always had a very particular relationship with objects, one that involves strange attachments and rituals, owning a rock collection carefully sorted into labeled bags, small sculptures, and a strong tie with paint, lines and words. She discovered the circus when she was 13, at the Saltimbanques school in Chenôve. It immediately became a passion, nurtured by four years of amateur practice in acrobatics, contortionism and juggling. At 17, she started school in Chalons en Champagne, but was kicked out after a difficult year. So started her on-the-job training in various roles: bit parts in movies, opera and theater. She met people who would be important in the long term, like Lan N’Guyen, a teacher then teaching at the Cirque Plume school, who taught her contortionism through games and creativity; and Jérôme Thomas, who influenced her work and encouraged her in her projects. Then came formative internships, with Marc Michel Georges, Yoshi Oida and Guy Alloucherie for theater, drawing practice and BMC (Body Mind Centering) , with Lula Chourlin and Janet Amato, and more recently the Transmettre (Pass On) training with Bénédicte Pavelak.