Have you ever tried to reproduce synchronized swimming figures outside of a swimming pool (and without being drunk at the end of the evening)? It’s not a completely crazy idea since it was that of Mae Leydet, the creator of Inverdance, who took it to the semi-final of France Has Incredible Talent broadcast this Wednesday December 18. While waiting to find out if Inverdance will make it to the final on Friday…
From artistic swimming to dry
“When I arrived at Incroyables Talents, I was afraid that people would make fun of me. Today I am convinced that this discipline can equal others like Pilate, even yoga,” says Mae Leydet today, to whom this participation has given wings. Especially since it was in pain that she gave birth to this idea: “It was in 2020 during confinement. At the time, I was an artistic swimming coach and I could no longer practice my job because the swimming pools were closed. I had postpartum depression too, it was a really difficult time.” Until the day one of his friends gave him an inversion stool, a yoga accessory that allows him to do upside-down postures. A revelation for the swimmer who posts videos of her “head down” choreographies on the networks and triggers unexpected enthusiasm among her students. At the end of confinement she decided to launch the first “Inverdance” school in Allauch, near Marseille, where she lives.
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Some of her swimming students follow her. And this is how they begin to imagine choreographies to music, legs in the air and heads down, with perfect coordination.
A comparison to the choreographer Sadeck Berrabah
“I became passionate about something new because I felt that there was great creativity,” continues Mae, “A La France a un Incroyable talents, they are the first, the only ones to have believed in my story. I went through complicated phases, many people closed their doors to me, considering me to be crazy.” If participation in the show had quickly crossed the mind of the 33-year-old coach, it was ultimately the production which took the lead: “A caster from the show contacted me on January 7 after spotting a article on Inverdance in Provence. He told me that I was potentially a good candidate for the show. I asked students from the school and also other girls to form the troop.” After passing the video casting, the troupe of 8 dancers presented themselves to the jury during two remarkable performances. “We got nothing but compliments,” rejoices Mae, “we even got choreographer Sadeck Berrabah!” “.
Its greatest victory would be to make known this discipline “suitable for everyone and which does not cost much because the inversion stool is easy to find” but which today only has around forty licensees in Marseille. His next challenge? Going to the final of France Has Incredible Talent of course but also developing Inverdance by training coaches to create a network of franchised schools across France. “To be honest, I was expecting more impact with the participation in “France has an incredible talent”… I hope that the sequel will give us more visibility! “. Just so you don’t feel like you’ve done it the other way around.
