The story of this piece began

began like this:

A trip to Benin, a training course, an encounter

through dance... an artistic project... why not?

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Bringing Aristide to France for a creative project, as I did in Benin, is simple... not so simple... Money.... You have to find money

in France, there's none there! We'll find it, we found it... In just a few clicks and 50€ I had my visa for Benin. It took several weeks and over 200€ to get Aristide's.

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On July 31, 2023, we meet again in France, after several months of exchanging words, videos and music.

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The show begins like a tale, a musical call, a song opens and closes these moments of encounter. There are two of them, obviously different, yet strangely similar, from here and elsewhere, they carry within them the link that binds all men together.

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Inviting yourself into each other's dance, making contact, dancing together, moving closer and further away, being together or absent. Let our bodies seek each other out, sometimes jostling, often gently. Looking at each other, listening to each other, endlessly listening to each other, until a magic circle opens up where the impossible can exist.

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Our dances are a blend of traditional Benin dances (amazon dance, zinli royal dance, kosso...), contemporary dance and contact dance.

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Bodies tell their own stories, taking over the space invaded by rhythms.

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The texts and songs punctuate the piece with touches of hope or revolt. You can hear a few phrases from the writings of Léonora Miano, a text about slavery and then some words, our own... The songs are in Fon, Nago and Yoruba.