You're never done learning: Jacques Ferrari.

You're never done learning: Jacques Ferrari, the Renaissance aerobatics man.

By Ilaria Luna

In July, I attended an aerobatic clinic in Michigan, organized by Great Lakes Equestrian Vaulting, and had the privilege of working with Jacques Ferrari of the French Compagnie Noroc, 2014 Men's World Champion. Since I began my acrobatic journey, Jacques has been a role model for me, not only for his interpretive ability and success on the international stage, but also for his multi-faceted activities. From the training of top-level athletes to equestrian performances and musical creation, his many talents and remarkable creativity make him a true Renaissance man of aerobatics. Once again, I'd like to thank Jacques for granting me this interview, which we originally conducted in French. The following is my English translation.

‍laria: How and when did you discover vaulting?

‍It's pretty simple: I was very young. My mother always liked horses, my sister did show jumping, so they wanted to get me into riding. I went to a small club near my house to try it, but it didn't last very long because I couldn't stop watching the half of the arena doing vaulting classes at walk, so I decided to try it. After two years, I tried other sports, but I came back to vaulting because there were many things I liked about it. It also allowed me, at the time, to enter a sport-study program and I haven't stopped since.

‍Ilaria: You stand out on the international stage for your ability to integrate dance, gymnastics and musical interpretation into the discipline of aerobatics, making the show not only technically complex and impeccable, but also artistically rich, a true exhibition in every respect. If you had to choose between these different skills and elements, which would be the most important? What advice can you give to young aerialists on how to make the most of their training?

‍Forme, for an aerialist, motivation is everything. Progressing further, as in any sport, requires a lot of hard work and re-evaluation. Vaulting is multifactorial: there's the horse, the financial and geographical aspect, the trainer, the psychological and mental state, etc... All these elements form a system that determines whether or not you can achieve high performance.

In my experience, I advise aerialists to take an interest in everything and develop their full coordination skills from an early age. What you learn between the ages of eight and sixteen is what will "forge" the speed with which you progress. This is an important stage in acquiring body control, spatial awareness and the technical foundations to exploit your full potential. Of course, you can also start aerobatics later and, with a lot of determination, analysis and perseverance, achieve the same result.

In addition, I'd encourage acrobats to get out of their comfort zone by learning to fly with different horses, to develop their "feel" and their notion of rhythm. The most important thing is to be truly in harmony with the horse and to develop a "flow". When you have a horse you love, but also train on other horses, you can create an even more relevant contact and sensitivity on your own horse to help you understand your own style of aerobatics later on. This also develops from the moment you start paying attention to your foot placement, your lines and the amplitude of your movements. You need to be able to absorb the horse's stride, whether it's pleasant or unpleasant, to give an impression of lightness.

Sometimes, simply playing music on the horse, without necessarily putting a lot of difficulty into your routine, allows you to learn to move without being held back by your technique. It's important to avoid thinking "once my technique is good, I'll start dancing", because in my opinion musicality and interpretation don't need difficulty to be exceptional. And when you finally master the difficulty of your exercise, you must first be comfortable with the musicality and interpretation so that the result can be emotionally engaging.

Generally, I try to push the people I work with in this direction, even if they don't always like it at first. Indeed, it forces them to step out of their comfort zone and improve their weak points. For example, working in this way with all the members who have passed through Compagnie Noroc - such as Lambert Leclezio, Manon Moutinho, Quentin Jabet, Théo Gardies and many others - has not always been easy, but it has brought them a lot. It enabled them to present acrobatics as constantly evolving, much more artistic and aerial.

If training is no more demanding than competition, then competition becomes the more difficult exercise. Others might say that you should train in conditions as close as possible to those in which you will be competing. That's true, but in my opinion, you also have to go through much more complex periods of development in your preparation before that.

Ilaria: Do you notice any differences between Europe and the United States in the way aerialists are prepared and trained and/or in the practice of the discipline as a whole?

Yes, there's a difference between Europe and the United States. Not necessarily in terms of level, because there have been some excellent aerialists who have come over from the States and who have even been models or sources of inspiration for me. However, there are very different styles, movements and ideas in Europe and the United States. This is fascinating because it contributes to the stylistic diversity of the sport. I think that to develop a method that works, you have to be interested in everything and take what seems most relevant from other methods. This works for almost everyone, because you can distill from your own eyes what's missing in your training.

For example, before 2012, France wasn't very good at imposés. So we started going abroad to train. I personally had the chance to work with Jessica Lichtenberg, who was the coach of the German Neuss team, and also with Rob de Bruin when he was not yet a four-star judge. They taught me a lot about vision, methods and training protocol.

In France, we studied the techniques of the Germans, Austrians and Swiss, among others. We said to ourselves: "This is great, but we can develop it further". So, by taking existing methods and improving techniques, we were able to work towards the point or half-point that was missing. In ten years, thanks to the hard work of our athletes and coaches, we've succeeded in putting ourselves at the forefront of the international imposed events scene.

If we manage to succeed despite the small number of top-level outfielders we have in France, it's because we focus on the individual and exploit his or her potential to the full. But in general, in many other countries, there are qualifying competitions; federations assign goal scores for certain competitions and "let the best acrobat be selected".

I find that this idea of "survival of the fittest" is sometimes not nuanced enough. I've seen many nations miss out on great potential or gold medals because of these rules. I think that when you're an athlete selector, you can't just focus on qualifying. Sometimes this process doesn't favor the development of a trio of high-potential acrobats (athlete, longeur and horse). The harshness of certain selection criteria can sometimes mean missing out on a "Picasso", who may mature differently or later than others throughout the season. That's how I see it.

Ilaria: You've made the transition from competitive aerobatics to showmanship. What are the most notable differences between these two versions of the discipline? Have you encountered any difficulties working with an audience that may not have an in-depth knowledge of the sport?

It's been almost ten years since I entered the world of equestrian shows. Recently, we've even taken part in TV shows such as "France's Got Talent" and "Spain's Got Talent". Generally speaking, in a show, the audience is the only judge, unlike in a competition. If you manage to move, surprise and convey something to the audience, they will express it directly. On the other hand, if your performance isn't quite right, you can feel it very quickly. The atmosphere that can be created during a show really allows you to be completely immersed when you want to share a story. Compared to competition, in shows you can strive to communicate your artistic intentions and desires, which can sometimes be erased or compressed in sport.

The show also allows us to have more time, fewer regulatory constraints, and to take more technical or artistic risks without fear of being perceived negatively during competitions. The beauty of the show is the opportunity to implement ideas that you wouldn't necessarily have used in competition. You learn to turn plan A into plan B, because "the show must go on". Things don't always go the way you want them to, so you learn to bounce back and react quickly enough to avoid a catastrophe.

The disadvantage of competition is that technique can quickly take precedence over artistry. But during a show, technique becomes secondary, art takes its place and you live the moment to the full. Thanks to this, I've been able to become increasingly precise artistically. I often incorporate hidden symbolism into my shows. But I realized that some audiences didn't perceive these messages as I'd hoped. So I had to create a bridge between the symbolic and the general public. This allowed me to progress, to push myself to limits I would never have pushed before. These are constraints, of course, but constraints that help us evolve.

Ilaria: You also create music for aerialists. What inspired you to start, and is there a particular style you prefer? What do you think makes good aerobatic music, and what do you strive to represent in your work?

Yes, I make music for acrobats, but also for dressage riders. I also create for music and image, and I'd like to expand into figure skating and other sports. Before I had a high-level career in aerobatics, I almost went to a famous music school in Paris. In fact, I always felt a little frustrated not to have chosen this path. But here I am, ten years later, coming back to it and telling myself that I finally made the right choice. Because you can only do sport for so long. But as long as you have your ears, your hands and your eyes, you can make music all your life.

Since 2015, I've been working with Henry Benoit, whom I met totally unexpectedly. His mother worked right next door to where we practiced, and she often came to tell us that our music was too loud. Later, she introduced me to her son, who was a composer at a music school in Los Angeles. I had a lot of projects I wanted to set up in the field of aerobatic music, and Henry was interested in entering this world. It was then that a beautiful friendship and collaboration began.

We helped each other and he taught me a lot about musical techniques. Nowadays, most music is created on computer; you can create beautiful music with pre-recorded instruments. So it was an obvious choice for me to introduce this to the world of aerobatics.

I think my personal musical style is orchestral, lyrical and symphonic. I love vocal ensembles, be they male, female or children's, but also anything with an ethnic sound. But there's more to me than that. In fact, in September 2022, my new album, MEDLEY, was released with many different styles of music. This year, I challenged myself to work with several genres (electro, Latin, hip hop etc.). It wasn't my "cup of tea" at first, but you have to keep an open mind. What's fascinating is that these different musical orientations bring very interesting elements to the table. I was nourished by this diversity. In music, you're never done learning. That's what makes this field incredible.

For me, good aerobatic music is music that has a soul, that tells a story. It doesn't matter what style or instrument is used, whether it's something happy or dark. The music must tell something in itself, have texture and be able to transport emotions, even when it's more contemporary.

I'm saying it today in 2022. Maybe in ten years' time I'll have a different opinion depending on how the discipline evolves.

Ilaria : One last curiosity for me and for readers of The Vaulting Review: is there a character (literary, filmic or artistic) or theme you'd like to interpret in aerobatics, and why?

I have to admit that in my twelve years of experience as a top-level aerialist and trainer, I've had the opportunity to exploit a large number of concepts, themes and ideas that I had in my head. Of course, they all come from films, shows, paintings or novels already proposed by great artists.

I also had the opportunity to see themes and ideas that had been more or less well exploited in aerobatics, so the desire to re-exploit certain things and sublimate them is always there. Today, I work more and more with creative processes inspired by things or ideas that already exist. I adapt them to the experiences, personalities and desires of the people I work with, to make the concepts innovative and unique.

There are still a few ideas that speak to me that I haven't yet managed to exploit to the full. First of all, playing with rhythms and body percussion to form music during a program. Also, I'm intrigued by the idea of playing with the words and inner thoughts that guide our actions, or even moving towards horse-dancing through Latin or ethnic music using cultural symbolism. When I say "dance", I choose this term because I think we can go even further than what has been proposed up to now.

Indeed, with Jacques' help, we were able to visualize our routines and improvisations as opportunities to truly dance on horseback, bringing out the artistic essence of acrobatics. Thank you, Jacques!

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Posted by Nicoletta Capitanio | Nov 27, 2022 | INTERVIEWS

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