Demain, c’est loin !

Demain, c’est loin !

Demain, c’est loin, Theatre d'Arles 📍 The Roman Theatre, Arles

▪️iDzia setup : sound

With 25 dancers aged 10 to 22

For the past 30 years, Josette Baïz has been propelling children and teenagers into the world of contemporary dance, offering them a unique platform to express their emotions and thoughts through movement. With 25 dancers aged 10 to 22, she stages three contemporary pieces that form a passionate plea for youth. Through dance, these young bodies seek to reinvent themselves, to question the future, and to explore new ways of rebuilding a world in crisis.

One of the key focal points of this reflection is in the piece Room With a View, inspired by Australian choreographer Lucy Guerin. In this work, the young dancers, while staying true to contemporary dance principles, deeply question how to rebuild the future in a world that has been altered. Through movements that push physical and geometric limits, stunning figures emerge from the dancers’ bodies. This dialogue between the young artists and the societal and environmental forces around them becomes a beautiful way to express contemporary issues such as climate change, social inequalities, and the challenges ahead to create a more just world.

A highlight of this performance is the dynamic excerpts from Room With a View, transmitted by the collective (LA)HORDE. These vibrant moments allow the younger generations to reinterpret the movements and express their own vision of societal changes to come. The narrative of the evening is further enriched by the reprise of 25e Parallèle, a piece by Josette Baïz that won the 1982 Bagnolet Dance Competition. This work, bridging the past and the present, serves as a platform for generational exchange, a way of passing on the passion for dance and the urgency of youth that transcends time.

This work is brought to life in the magnificent setting of the Ancient Theater of Arles, a monument over two millennia old, which resonates with both history and the dynamic present of dance. The Ancient Theater, between June and August, transforms into a venue for culture and performance, hosting events such as the International Photography Meetings, the Les Suds festival, and the Peplum Film Festival. For each of these events, we have the opportunity to intervene and enhance this exceptional location, creating sensory experiences that highlight the history of the site while giving it a contemporary dimension. The two mysterious columns, known as "the two widows," marking the entrance of the Theater, become silent witnesses to the dialogue between the past and the present, between dance and historical memory.

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