top of page
FR / EN
Nadia Beugré

2023

Prophétique
(on est déjà né.es)

NADIA BEUGRÉ

For the past years, Nadia Beugré has been reaching out to the transgender community in Abidjan.

Assigned as boys, they are navigating between genders with a fierce freedom in a very patriarchal society that, at best, pretends not to see them.

Hairdressers by day, dancefloor divas by night, they live both exposed and underground, flowing from parallel circuits to solidarity networks and invent their own dances which, mixing voguing and coupé/décalé, make the nights of Abidjan...

For Abidjan’s people, they are the "crazy" ones, the "sissies", conveniently forgetting that their own wives, their own daughters are being braided each month in their salons.

Following Legacy and L'homme rare, Nadia Beugré pursues her research on gender and identity, but also on those she calls the "stranded", the misfits, those from the margins, from the periphery, those who are rejected or ignored. She keeps interrogating assignations and roles in the family, in the society, in history, the roles you are given and those you take...

"A few years ago, a woman came to see 10 000 Gestes by Boris Charmatz, a piece in which I dance in a G-string and bra, and she asks me after the show why I chose this 'role'. Why was she asking me this question, me out of the twenty or so other performers on stage, and what “role” was she talking about? I realised that I’m missing something in the way people see me here in Europe. I realized how much people's perception often locks you into boxes, as a black woman on a European stage for example, boxes over which you have no control...

So what interests me in 'les folles' as people called them, ignoring of course the strength born out of madness and the incredible nerve it takes to find a way round the roles society imposes on all its members, from childhood to death.

In the huge market of Yopougon, a working-class district in Abidjan, everyone knows where they work. Fearless, they staged their own life, they invent their own places, they build their own world. If life is a ring, as used to say Béatrice Kombé, they are here to fight with incredible courage and creativity. In this respect, they fully belong to this young generation who, every day, in Abidjan as in the rest of the country, has to invent the means of its own survival.”

This piece was built on extensive periods of research and work in Abidjan, encountering members of the community, following them in their daily routine, sharing their stories.

The cast mixes non-professional performers with local dancers and two performers from Europe.

The process was followed by photographer David Kadoule (Togo), not to document the work but rather to create an independent artistic object testifying of the process while transforming it through an artistic lens.

→ WATCH THE TEASER



PREMIÈRE

11 May 2023, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels



CAST 


ARTISTIC DIRECTION

Nadia Beugré [+]


SCENOGRAPHY

Jean-Christophe Lanquetin [+]


LIGHT DESIGN

Anthony Merlaud [+]


WITH

Beyoncé [+], Canel [+], Jhaya Caupenne [+], Taylor Dear [+], Acauã El Bandide Shereya [+], Kevin Sery [+]


ASSISTANT

Christian Romain Kossa


EXTERNAL EYE

Nadim Bahsoun, Adonis Nebié



→ ADDITIONAL CREDITS

THE DATES
→ 11-14 May 2023 | Théâtre Le Rideau Brussels | Kunstenfestivaldesarts
→ 16-18 June 2023 | Frascati Amsterdam | Holland Festival
→ 21-22 June 2023 | Théâtre La Vignette Montpellier | Montpellier Danse
→ 10-11 August 2023 | HAU / Hebbel am Ufer Berlin | Tanz im August
→ 18-20 October 2023 I Théâtre Garonne I La Place de la Danse CDCN Toulouse Occitanie, Toulouse
→ 23-24 October 2023 I Dampfzentrale Bern I Culturescapes 2023 Sahara
→ 27-28 October 2023 I Hellerau, Dresden I Culturescapes 2023 Sahara
→ 3-4 November 2023 I Spielart Theatherfestival, Munich
→ 7-10 November 2023 I Theatre de Vidy Lausanne I Culturescapes 2023 Sahara
→ 14-15 November 2023 I Points communs, Cergy I Festival d’Automne à Paris
→ 17 November 2023 I Theatre de Freiburg,
→ 21-22 November 2023 I Kaserne Bâle I Culturescapes 2023 Sahara
→ 24-25 November 2023 I Alkantara festival, CulturGest, Lisbon
→ 30 November-3 December 2023 I Centre Pompidou I Festival d’Automne à Paris
→ 6 April 2024 I Le Dancing Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne I Festival Art Danse
→ 24-26 May 2024 I Carrefour des arts I Quebec
→ 28-30 May 2024 I Festival TransAmériques I Montreal
→ 8-9 November 2024 I Nowy Theatre, Warsaw

bottom of page