Olivia Grandville Débandade

Where do men stand with regards to the recent feminist wave of activism? Informed by her previous piece Nous vaincrons les maléfices (2019), which looked at 1970s utopia with a group of students, Olivia Grandville wanted to question young men about their relationship to masculinity in this day and age. The former Opéra de Paris dancer, who worked with Dominique Bagouet’s company, asked 7 dancers to explore their feelings and reflections on stage. These performers of various backgrounds, who were trained in theater, hip-hop dance and circus, reveal themselves through dances and recorded accounts played on stage. They occupy the stage and expose their insecurities and contradictions with whimsy and emotion. The unclassifiable choreographer whose work is often underpinned by a dense documentary dimension – like her Cabaret Discrépant based on the Lettrism art movement – offers a free, playful and liberating piece which she conceived as a mix between “a musical, a street interview, stand-up comedy and an exorcism ritual.”

Vincent Théval 

"Inclassable, empruntant à des registres variés (défilé de mode, spectacle de stand-up, show de télé-réalité ou encore séance de sport), la pièce se développe tout en légèreté jusqu’à un superbe final, vraiment étonnant. Pensée par une femme pour et avec des hommes, elle apporte une vision ouverte, sans a priori, sur les rapports entre les genres." Jérôme Provençal, Les Inrocks

"La pièce va bruire, une heure trente durant, de bribes de récits sur cette virilité qu’ils vont questionner, danser, jouer en mots et surtout en gestes." Muriel Steinmetz, L'Humanité