Culture

I’m Delighted To Inform You This Viral Clip Of Human Sheep Is A World Famous Art Performance

I guess you could say the performance had great ram-ifications for the dancers.

by Merryana Salem  24 August 2022

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

Ewe will not believe that this viral clip of so-called human sheep is actually famous performance art.

This week, Twitter user @emikusano shared a clip of some grown human adults pretending to be sheep, complete with costumes. The clip was shared with the caption, “The Sheep human Contest in France. This is the festival I need right now”.

And don’t we all? However, it took a little sleuthing and Junkee can assure you that France does not have a human sheep contest. At least, not one we’re aware of. The strange, yet someone endearing footage is actually of a professional dance troop doing one of their most famous pieces.

Related
Every Single 'House Of The Dragon' Wig, Ranked

The piece is called “Les Moutons.” It’s a performance by Toronto-based French Canadian dance company, CORPUS. The company is critically acclaimed for their comedic, surreal and often absurdist choreography.

In an interview with CBS Arts, CORPUS co-founder David Danzon explains that Les Moutons is “half an hour in the life of a sheep.” The performance is intended as a fully immersive and interactive installation that features the “sheep” grazing, sleeping and even being sheered.

Les Moutons has gone viral several times since its debut performance in 2003. As a result of this timeless popularity, the company have taken their human-sheep absurdity all around the world.

According to their official website, “Les Moutons” has been programmed in over 100 festivals in over 25 countries. To date, Les Muttons have has performed over 800 times worldwide.

Further sleuthing revealed that the footage shared on Twitter is from CORPUS’s demo that they shared on YouTube in 2018. For those curious, the company also shared a version of the performance performed over zoom during quarantine in May 2020.

Times may change, and seasons and trends can come and go. But one thing is always certain, somewhere in the world some professional Canadian dancers are pretending to be sheep and it’s incredible.

Watch the clips below.