A new generation takes on France’s longest-running hip-hop dance festival

A new era for France’s longest-running hip-hop dance festival. Last year, Suresnes Cité Danse celebrated its 30th anniversary and founder Olivier his Mayer retired.

His successor, Carolyn Occelli, knows the house well. Since 2019, she has been Executive Director (now Director) of the theater in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris where the festival is held. For now, she’s carefully sticking to the festival format. Main She is a mixed bill dedicated to large premieres in the auditorium and up-and-coming artists on a small second stage.

Unfortunately, the first mixed billing of the year had some undeveloped work, but programming wasn’t the issue. After dancer and choreographer Hugo Ciona sustained a serious neck injury, he and his stage partner Natalie Fouquet were unable to complete the scheduled premiere. Kairos; Instead, a 10-minute excerpt was displayed. That spiral lift was done fluidly, with a hint of tenderness near the end.

Nicolas Sagnier solo House, meanwhile, meandered after a strong start. Sannier is an acrobat, hanging horizontally from a Chinese pole and spinning on his Cyr wheel.

It’s a shame, because the first image, in which he falls asleep in a chair and only replaces his hidden head with a bright lamp, had a surrealist quality that promised a lot. I did aerial work around the chair to create a dreamy atmosphere. A stronger dramatic arc and a more conservative score would have helped keep it going.

Suresnes Cités Danse hit their stride more easily on the main stage at Mehdi Kerkouche. Portrait36-year-old Kercouch is the new boy wonder of French dance. His name recognition came through his viral lockdown video, and this month he was appointed one of France’s National Centers for Choreography in Creteil.

Kerkush’s style is fluent and leaves room for individuality, Portrait It also suggests an interest in strict composition. One tableau shows dancers entering and leaving en masse in an orderly, symmetrical pattern. Elsewhere, experiment with size emotions by laughing and getting angry while moving the chairs in a rectangular formation.

Portrait It’s Kerkoche’s first homecoming since growing up in Suresnes, and aims to be a snapshot of a different kind of family: his dancers. Repeatedly, the group gathers for a family portrait, with an elderly dancer, Amy Swanson, serving as the patriarch. The choreography doesn’t quite connect the dots between those relationships and the more abstract scenes, but it’s a serious effort.In Suresnes Cités Danse, the next generation is clearly coming.

★★★☆☆

Until February 5th, theater-suresnes.fr