NADIA BEUGRÉ

VIII International Meeting of Live Arts AM24

A piece that tackles the question of gender assignment head-on. With five naked men gyrating their hips on stage, it challenges perceptions of male and female categorisation. It is also a piece about our Western, voyeuristic and erotic gaze on these black bodies. With their backs to the audience, five non-white male dancers are either completely naked or draped in simple fabrics, some wearing high heels, swinging their hips and swaying their pelvises in a series of movements that are not exclusively restricted to women. The voyeuristic condition is impossible to escape, the direct heir of the dominant gaze that reifies, eroticises and colonises bodies, particularly those that are black.

Nadia Beugré was awarded the SACD 2023 Prize for new choreographic talent. Originally from the Ivory Coast, she made her first appearance as a member of the Dante Theatre in 1995. Two years later, together with Béatrice Kombé, she co-founded the ground-breaking all-female dance company, Tchétché. In 2009, following her studies at Germaine Acogny’s École des Sables in Senegal, she joined Mathilde Monnier’s ex.e.r.ce. programme for talented, up-and-coming choreographers at the Centre Chorégraphique National in Montpellier. Nadia Beugré, whose work examines issues such as the body, gender and nudity, has been an associated artist with the Briqueterie in Vitry-sur-Seine (France) since 2021, as well as with the ICI CCN in Montpellier (2023-2024).

                                                                                    
Creation and choreography Nadia Beugré / Performers Nadim Bahsoun, Daouda Keita, Marius Moguiba, Lucas Nicot, Tahi Vadel Guei / Technical direction and lighting design Anthony Merlaud / Music Serge Gainsbourg, Lucas Nicot, Percussions d’Obilo / External look Faustin Linyekula
Production Virginie Dupray – Libr’Arts / With the support de Contemporaines i Studios Kabako / Coproduction Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Bruselas); Théâtre de la Ville-Paris; Festival d’Automne à Paris; Montpellier Danse; CCN2 – Centre chorégraphique national de Grenoble; Centre chorégraphique national d’Orléans – Direction Maud Le Pladec; Kunstencentrum Vooruit (Gand); Musée de la Danse – Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne; BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen); Théâtre de Nîmes / Distribution Africa Moment