Category: France

Contemporary Dance Highlights in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier…

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Mediterranea Eastern Europe Benelux France

Christos Papadopoulos – My Fierce Ignorant Step

  • May 8th – 18th, 2025 Onassis Stegi, Athens
  • May 30th, 2025 One Dance Festival, Plovdiv
  • June 27th – 28th, 2025 Festival de Marseille, Marseille
  • July 2nd – 3rd, 2025 Julidans, Amsterdam
  • November 14th – 16th, 2025 Romaeuropa Festival, Rome
  • November 19th, 2025 Aperto Festival, Reggio Emilia
  • December 3rd, 2025 Concertgebouw Brugge, Bruges
  • December 6th, 2025 Theater Rotterdam, Rotterdam
  • January 8th – 9th, 2026 PAWILON TAŃCA, Warsaw
  • January 24th – 25th, 2026 TMP, Porto
  • May 24th – 30th, 2026 Théâtre de la Ville, Paris

60 minutes

Christos Papadopoulos’ Most Personal Work

© Christos Papadopoulos

With My Fierce Ignorant Step (Working Title), Papadopoulos seeks to consciously process the influence that “Axion Esti”—the monumental work by Mikis Theodorakis founded on the poetry of Odysseas Elytis—exerted on him, exploring the extent to which sound and speech can dilate and reach a state of abstraction that alludes to that of a movement: a lifted arm, an oscillating body, a trembling leg.

For the choreographer, the first impulse for the creation of “My Fierce Ignorant Step (Working Title)” is grounded in aural memories of his childhood and younger age, memories that he shares with many other Greeks: collective memories that are connected with the fate of this country, even if this is not immediately apparent. Is it possible to work on a text with the same composition principles applied to the choreography of a body? How close to words can a body come, and vice versa? Can this turn into a shared, transparent, and simple experience?

INSTAGRAM
Categories
DACH region Benelux France

Damien Jalet & Kohei Nawa – Mirage for the Ballet du GTG

May 6th – 11th, 2025 Grand Théâtre de Genève, Geneva
June 5th – 7th, 2025 Kampnagel, Hamburg
January 14th – 17th, 2026 Maison de la Danse, Lyon
January 24th, 2026 Festspielhaus St. Pölten, St. Pölten
June 11th – 14th, 2026 De Singel, Antwerp
65 minutes

A Dream of Atmospheric Phenomena

© Gregory Batardon

With Mirage, Damien Jalet offers his very first creation for the Ballet du Grand Théâtre, where he has been an associate artist since 2022. Mirage also constitutes the fourth chapter of his collaboration with Japanese visual artist Kohei Nawa.

Inspired by the phenomenon of mirages and Fata Morgana – optical illusions linked to specific meteorological conditions, caused by light being distorted as it passes through different- temperature layers of air – Damien Jalet and Kohei Nawa depict humanity wandering in a metaphorical desert in search of itself.

Through a series of unpredictable transformations inspired by different mythologies, climatology, botany and entomology, as well as Hayagawari – a Japanese kabuki theatre technique in which performers suddenly transform during a performance –, the piece peels back the performers, layer after layer, exploring an endless variety of physical and emotional states.

Sometimes evoking the spectres of a civilization at the edge of a dry well, sometimes crossed with the dazzling colours and sensuality of tropical nature, Mirage passes through like a moving, fluctuating, waking dream of atmospheric phenomena.

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DACH region Benelux France

Thomas Hauert – Troglodyte

March 28th – 30th, 2025 Festival dansa metropolitana, Barcelona
November 17th, 2025 TANZINOLTEN, Olten
April 3rd – 4th, 2026 Théâtre de la Cité internationale, Paris
April 14th, 2026 Le 140, Brussels
April 17th, 2026 Internationales Bonner Tanzsolofestival, Bonn
60 minutes

A Solo for Himself

© Olivier Miche

In his new solo, Thomas Hauert intends to deepen a creative process already present in his last two creations: making psychology, inner life, emotions and the unconscious a driving force behind movement. The starting point for Troglodyte is a kind of complex psychological enigma, expressed in the working title and subtitle of the solo Zaungast/Zaunkönig, focusing on the experience of the position of the outsider, the one who is not part of the group, the one who looks on from the outside. Zaungast is a German word that describes someone who attends an event to which they were not invited, behind the fence (literally: “guest of the fence”). Zaunkönig, literally “king of the fence”, is the German name for the wren, a small songbird. Tiny but kingly at the same time, it is imagined on the fence, ‘staying on the fence’, in the figurative sense of someone who does not take a stand, does not make up their mind and does not commit themselves accordingly.

The word troglodyte originally refers to a living creature that inhabits a cave or dwelling dug into the ground, like the little bird Zaunkönig/troglodyte. The term Troglodyte also sounds like an insult, one associated with the “Cave Man”, the boorish, uneducated, coarse man.

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France

Ballet Nacional de España / Marcos Morau – Afanador

April 24th – 25th, 2025 Yeulmaru, Yeosu
April 30th – May 1st, 2025 GS Arts Center, Seoul
July 10th – 20th, 2025 Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid
September 26th – 27th, 2025 Festspielhaus St. Pölten, St. Pölten
November 5th, 2025 Concertgebouw Brugge, Bruges
November 22nd – 23rd, 2025 Festival de Danse Cannes, Cannes
March 27th – April 2nd, 2026 Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris
100 minutes

The Power of Photography & Choreography

© MERCHE BURGOS

Afanador emerges from the tension between the fascination that emanates from Ruven Afanador’s photos, and my own fascination with all the mystery, so diurnal and yet so nocturnal, that once fascinated Ruven.

Marcos Morau

Ruven Afanador’s photography is not documentary or monumental—it doesn’t archive history or glorify its subjects. Instead, it is driven by desire, distorting and being distorted by its object. Desire, elusive by nature, shapes what it sees, revealing subjective and profound truths.

Afanador approaches Andalusian folklore through this lens, exposing flamenco’s raw subconscious—its passion, death, and untold stories. His work amplifies its essence into a surreal, evocative world of shadow and light, where he both observes and is observed.

Our work extends this vision, capturing Afanador’s gaze and the transformative power of photography. Like Goya’s Caprichos, these images blend familiar themes through association and metamorphosis, turning photography into both miracle and mystery. Each shot lingers just beyond reach, on the verge of vanishing into its own fire.

Ballet Nacional de EspañA
Categories
France APAC

Xie Xin – In Satie / The Rite Of Spring

February 21st – 22nd, 2025 Shanghai International Dance Center Theater, Shanghai
August 27th – 28th, 2025 SIDCT, Shanghai
October 1st, 2025 NCPA, Beijing
January 8th – 10th, 2026 Les Gémeaux, Sceaux
January 13th, 2026 SCÈNES VOSGES, Épinal
85 minutes (incl. 15-minute intermission)

Reimagining Satie & Stravinsky in Dance

© Xie Xin Dance Theatre

In Satie / The Rite Of Spring is a double-bill production blending music and dance theater. First initiated in 2021, this world premiere at the Shanghai International Dance Center features the collaboration between Chinese classical musicians and Xie Xin Dance Theatre dancers.

In Satie-The Lightness

This segment features re-arranged versions of Satie’s Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes for piano and vibraphone by Fu Yifei. Choreographer Xie Xin seamlessly integrates musicians as part of the dance ensemble.

The Rite of the Spring-The Rising Road

Based on the original two-piano arrangement, Fu Yifei has re-imagined the orchestral percussion for a version featuring two pianists and two percussionists. Since its 1913 debut, Stravinsky’s monumental score has inspired countless dance productions. Now, Xie Xin—already internationally recognized takes on the challenge of creating a fresh and stunning interpretation of La Sacre du Printemps, performed with this unique instrumental ensemble.

This production promises to be truly one-of-a-kind, showcasing innovative artistry in both music and dance.