about the Müllers

In italics: Quotations from Jean Michel Guy (critic and connoisseur of the modern circus; works for the French Culture Ministry). He has followed Jörg’s career since 1994 and Roman’s since 2001

Jörg grew up in Germany, Roman in Switzerland. Both have been juggling since their youth.

It just makes sense for them to work together: Their common language [German], their shared dedication to the science of juggling, their shared experience of otherness (working and living where a different language is spoken), and sheer madness.

One graduated from the CNAC (Centre National des Arts du Cirque, the state-supported circus college) in France, the other from the Scuola Teatro Dimitri in Switzerland.

Their common starting point is the contradictory compulsion to create the new out of the old, and the sacred out of the profane.  Neither Roman nor Jörg started their training as revolutionaries. They’re both part of a circus liberation movement that allows them to explore, to experiment, to not know exactly where they’re going. But in a manner of speaking, they don’t really know what they’re doing. They just do it.

Both have developed independent forms of juggling. Jörg focuses mainly on horizontal manipulation with tubes that float around him; Roman creates new, trailblazing feats with the diabolo.

In any case, they are equals in terms of greatness. Before they came along, we’d never seen this kind of thing! We’d never seen the diabolo as anything other than a child’s toy. We’d never seen anything like Jörg’s pendulum juggling.

Each of these forms wheels and spins ceaselessly.
Simplicity itself, the reduction to the essence, is what connects them.

Two geniuses. But as I see it, it’s not juggling or German that unites them. It’s the way they laugh.  

Their paths seldom cross. While Jörg has found his niche in the international world of performance, Roman explores the circus world in all of its facets.

Roman laughs all the time; he laughs at everything, he makes fun of everything, less out of mockery than out of pleasure! Life in itself is funny. Roman is a person who avoids any unpleasantness in day-to-day life, channeling all of his frustrations (if any) into creating. Roman pours anything that is tragic into his art, and that’s what makes him great.
Jörg is a guy who plays his cards close to his chest, nearly all the time: [jamais où je suis]. He’s a total cut-up, a guy who loves having fun, a party animal. But when he needs to think, he practically goes into hiding. He does a lot of thinking, but only on the sly. And he moves beautifully.

Each of them has developed his own very personal language, stage identify, and artistic vision.

Is it “positive cynicism” or “critical optimism?”

They’d heard about each other constantly.
In March 2015, they finally worked together for the first time.

It’s true that it’s difficult to imagine you together, since you’re each so intrinsically “complete.” Me, I hear about your laughter, your craziness, your juggling frenzy, and when I imagine you together, I’m both worried and excited.

MüLLER / MüLLER is akin to a necessity.