Perpich Students Welcome French/UK duo Bert and Nasi to Artist Talk

February 6, 2026

Perpich students in Dance, Theater, and Musical Theater, along with their instructors, attended the February 5th performance of Bert and Nasi: L’Addition at the Walker Art Center’s McGuire Theater. The following day, Bert and Nasi (Bertrand Lesca & Nasi Voutsas) visited Perpich Arts High School to meet with the students and further discuss the performance. They shared insights on what makes improvisation and stage work truly successful: trust, presence, and connection.

Bert and Nasi (Bertrand Lesca & Nasi Voutsas) met with Perpich students on February 6th

Rather than focusing on trying to be “funny,” Nasi Voutsas emphasized the importance of staying authentic in each moment. “You don’t need to kind of go, ‘this is a funny routine.’ You just need to do it,” he explained, noting that strong timing and honest reactions often create the biggest impact.

Bertrand Lesca also highlighted the power of stillness and listening. Taking a pause, making eye contact with the audience, and staying grounded can turn simple moments into meaningful ones. These pauses allow performers to remain present instead of rushing through scenes.

Perpich students gather in circle to discuss performance with Bert and Nasi

Another major focus was the importance of working closely with a scene partner. When performers feel unsure, connection becomes their strongest tool. “The only thing that really anchors you in the scene and in the moment is your partner,” Lesca said. “If you guys don’t know what you’re doing, just look at each other.”

After performing the same show many times, it can be easy to slip into autopilot. Voutsas encouraged students to resist that habit by actively listening and responding to what is happening onstage in real time. Staying connected, relaxed, and attentive helps performers avoid overthinking and make stronger creative choices.

Overall, the artist talk offered a valuable reminder: great performances are built not on perfection, but on trust, awareness, and genuine collaboration.

About the Performers:

Bert and Nasi are a contemporary performance duo that met in 2015 and have since created an entire repertoire of shows in the midst of a period of national and international austerity. Their work, in turn, is stripped back and minimalist, whilst dealing with complex ideas and emotions. Their shows lie somewhere between performance, dance, and theatre, but if you had to pin them down on it, they’d probably say it’s theatre.

Together they have performed their shows on the international stages of PuSh Festival (Canada), Festival de Otoño (Spain), Sarajevo Mess (Bosnia), Adelaide International Festival (Australia), InTeatro (Italy), Avignon Festival (France), as well as MiTsp (Brazil).

Bertrand Lesca & Nasi Voutsas (center) pose with Mary Harding, Dance Instructor (left) and Tory Peterson, Theater Instructor (right)

In 2020, Bert and Nasi received the Forced Entertainment Award in memory of Huw Chadbourn, which celebrates the work of contemporary artists reinventing theatre and performance in new ways and for new audiences.

About the Performance: Bert and Nasi: L’Addition

“It’s very weird, and extremely funny.” —New York Times

★★★★ “Superbly absurd comedy.” —Guardian

L’Addition plays out like a deranged game of telephone, except that the message being passed is a single scene on an increasingly distorted loop: A man at a café orders a drink. A waiter pours the drink. And a waiter pours the drink. And he cannot stop pouring the drink. Each escalation of the otherwise everyday scenario introduces a more outlandish set of circumstances. Through physical comedy and radical miming, French/UK duo Bert and Nasi expose the nonsensical social scripts that govern our world.

Directed by Tim Etchells (Forced Entertainment).

The Walker Art Center is a renowned multidisciplinary arts institution that presents, collects, and supports the creation of groundbreaking work across the visual and performing arts, moving image, and design. Guided by the belief that art has the power to bring joy and solace and the ability to unite people through dialogue and shared experiences, the Walker engages communities through a dynamic array of exhibitions, performances, events, and initiatives. Its multiacre campus includes 65,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space, the state-of-the-art McGuire Theater and Walker Cinema, and ample green space that connects with the adjoining Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The Garden, a partnership with the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, is one of the first urban sculpture parks of its kind in the United States and home to the beloved Twin Cities landmark Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Recognized for its ambitious program and growing collection of more than 15,500 works, the Walker embraces emerging art forms and amplifies the work of artists from the Twin Cities and from across the country and the globe. Its broad spectrum of offerings makes it a lively and welcoming hub for artistic expression, creative innovation, and community connection.