The Molière theater is preparing to launch a month of May 2024 dedicated to dance, “joyful, popular and accessible”. As the highlight of the “Parso on danse” program, on May 25, amateurs and professionals will put on a show in the streets of the City for “1 km of dance”.
In May, do whatever you like, but above all dance! This is the invitation, launched by the Théâtre Molière de Sète, by offering a particularly original series of meetings around the movement and its creative energies. The fourth edition of “Parso on danse” (from May 16 to 30, Editor’s note), promises to be thrilling literally and figuratively, in Sète but also around the Bassin de Thau. First of all, there are six choreographic pieces proposed by Brazilian, Montpellier, West Indian or African companies, all as invigorating as they are eclectic (read below). The dancers of the São Paulo Dance Company, welcomed for the second time on the Sète national scene, will have the privilege of opening the ball.
On the program for “Parso on danse” this May at the Molière theater
For the return of Sao Paulo Dance Company in Sète, four pieces will be presented on May 16 and 17 with the work of four choreographers Henrique Rodovalho, Stephen Shopshire, Jomar Mesquita and Leilane Teles. And at the end, DJ Guy Lamour will mix.
Guadeloupean choreographers Myriam Soulanges and Martinican choreographer Marlène Myrtil will take over the stage of the Léo-Malet cultural center in Mireval with “Tropic of képone”, May 22. A futuristic creation that evokes the Chlordecone pesticide scandal in the West Indies. “Since 2014, we have asked ourselves how to deal with the human, economic and social consequences of this pollution,” indicates Myriam Soulanges.
“Why do we dance?, What does it mean?” These are the questions that raise “Hip-hop Nakupenda” (hip-hop I love you Swahili) offered on May 22, 23 and 24 by the dancer and choreographer from the DRC, Yves Mwamba.
“In his place”a solo imagined by Christian Rizzo for the dancer Nicolas Fayol who came from hip-hop and immersed “in a non-urban environment”.
“Love-s”, a play by Radhouane El Medded on a text by the Lebanese poet Gibran Khalil Gibran. May 28 at 8 p.m.
The musician and singer Alima Hamel and the choreographer Jehane Hamm Saïhi, will perform on May 30 at 8 p.m. with “Naqs”. “What is missing” in Arabic. The duo interprets, through their bodies and their voices, a singular language born from a truncated culture.
Reservations on 04 67 74 02 02 or on tmsete.com.
For this 2024 edition, imagined by director Sandrine Mini, in the midst of Sète’s candidacy for the Capital of Culture, the City will host a major free dance festival, giant festival style, Saturday May 25 from 10 a.m. to midnight. Called “1 km of dance”, the festive day promises a great moment “joyful, popular and accessible in the languages that we will offer“, summarizes Sandrine Mini. Three stages will be installed in the unique city along a one-kilometer axis, one on the station square, the second Place Victor-Hugo and the last at the Pont de Pierre.
Amateurs and professionals mixed
The event, organized simultaneously in two other cities (Pantin and Chateau-Thierry) by the Ministry of Culture and the National Dance Center, will bring together some 350 professional but also amateur dancers, notably from local dance companies and schools. “All on an equal footing, will take turns between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.”, specifies Sandrine Mini. Seven groups will perform per stage, for half an hour each. The morning will start with a solo by Yann Lheureux in Bouzigues (departure by sea shuttle from 9:30 a.m., from the station pier for those who have reserved.
General conflagration
Back in Sète, at 2:30 p.m., a tango performance by Sétois A & B tango will be the starting point of “general conflagration” of this festive afternoon, along Pointe Courte. Back in Sète, among the highlights of the three scenes, the Histrions association. It has now been 15 years since the association, “little choreographic point in Sète”, offers amateurs (from 28 to 75 years) the opportunity to discover contemporary dance with emerging choreographers, particularly from the Montpellier choreographic center. Flamenco, cabaret, roller quad, modern jazz, classical, African dance, Lindy hop and even contemporary will rub shoulders for the widest choice of the public.
The local scene for “1 km of dance”
The big dance festival (1 km of dance) on May 25 required real coordination to offer a perfectly synchronized ballet between the different groups and schools from Sète invited to perform on the three stages. Among them, A & B Tango (Audrey Anselmi and Patrice Bartès), Rev’Danse (Frontignan), Histrions Danse, In tempo (Frontignan), Sentido Flamenco (Sète), Moma danse (Sète, Center de danse Arnal Ibanez (Sète) , Intercom dance (Balaruc), terpsichore (Sète) MJC Poussan, les Bruschettes (Sète), Tangovibrathau (Mèze), Sète Up Swing, Accordage (Sète), la Fabrik de la danse (Bouzigues) Flamenco Puro (Sète).
“To our fights”, dancers and boxers
One of the most anticipated moments will be the piece “A nos combats” by the Burkinabe creator, Salia Sanou, founder of the Mouvements Perpetuels company. Inspired by the legendary match between Mohamed Ali and George Foreman in 1974 in Kinshasa, The Rumble in the Jungle, this women’s duel danced by a boxer and a dancer will be held at 7 p.m. on a ring installed in the theater square. Around fifty amateurs (girls and boys, partly from Sète boxing clubs) will play the fiery supporters, harangued by Soro Solo, the memorable host of the France Inter show, L’Afrique enchantée. Between fervor and reflection, the choreographer intends to play with the public on a lot of preconceived ideas. A grand “chorephic ball” by Sylvain Groud and the ballet du Nord, open to all, will close the day at Place Victor Hugo at 9 p.m. Then we dance ?
