Photo by Yi-Chun Wu
Nadia Beugré
Quartiers Libres revisited
OCT 24-26, 2024
Co-presented with L’Alliance New York’s
Crossing The Line Festival
Choreographed and Directed by Nadia Beugré
Performed by Nadia Beugré, Beyoncé, Kevin Sery
Lighting Design by Beatriz Kaysel
Set Design by Nadia Beugré
Costumes by Nadia Beugré & Boris Hennion
Sound Landscape by Mathieu Grenier
Dramaturgy: Boris Hennion
Executive production: Libr’Arts / Virginie Dupray
Run time: 60 minutes
SPECIAL THANKS
Montpellier Danse (accueil studio), Un pas vers l’avant Festival, Louise Dodet, Louise Bertin, Clementine Guinchat
New York Live Arts would like to thank the community partners who contributed to the collection of the plastic bottles used in the performance: Hudson Scenic, Sure We Can, Brittany Coyne and Mary Byrne.
FUNDING
This performance is supported by FUSED, a program of Albertine Foundation in partnership with Villa Albertine.
Libr’Arts is supported by the DRAC Occitanie / French Ministry of Culture and Communication
Nadia Beugré is associate artist to ICI CCN de Montpellier
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We acknowledge and pay respect to Lenape people, elders, and ancestors past, present, and coming in the future. We acknowledge Indigenous people who may be present right now. We acknowledge and offer deep gratitude to Lenapehoking where we are now - the land, and waters of the Lenape homeland.
BIOGRAPHIES
Nadia Beugré
Born in Ivory Coast, Nadia Beugré made her first appearance in 1995 as a member of the Dante Theatre. Two years later, she became a founding member of Béatrice Kombé’s groundbreaking, all-female dance ensemble, TchéTché, with whom she toured for years to critical acclaim across Africa, Europe and North America. Through Beatrice Kombé, an immensely free woman, Nadia Beugré understands that the stage is a ring where anything can happen…
After Kombé’s death, she follows a training at Germaine Acogny’s Ecole des sables in Senegal, and then joined in 2009 ex.e.r.ce., Mathilde Monnier’s programme for talented, up-and-coming choreographers at the Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier.
For a decade, Nadia Beugre’s pieces have been developing a very singular journey around margins, exclusion, what is outside, abnormal, a journey through shifting identities, be
they social, cultural or genderbased…
The body of works include the still-touring solo Quartiers libres (‘Free rein’) composed in 2012, Legacy premiered at the La Bâtie festival in Geneva in 2015, Tapis Rouge (2017) and Roukasskass Club (2019). L’Homme rare, an all-male quintet performance, was premiered at the Montpellier Dance Festival in 2020. Followed in 2023 two pieces portraying the city of Abidjan and a new Ivorian generation in fire..., the Filles-Pétroles duet and Prophétique (on est déjà né.es). Beugré also performs in works by fellow choreographers, such as Alain Buffard, a major encounter, Seydou Boro, Dorothée Munyaneza, Bernardo Montet, Rémy Héritier, Boris Charmatz and in 2022 Robyn Orlin.
Nadia Beugré is associate artist to ICI CCN de Montpellier Occitanie (2023-2024) and was awarded in 2023 the SACD Prize for New Choreographic Talent in France.
With Virginie Dupray, Nadia Beugré has founded in 2020 her own dance company in Montpellier, Libr’Arts, a platform for production, touring but also training, developing actions and programmes between France and Ivory Coast.
Beyoncé
A dancer, performer and braider, Beyoncé grew up in Abidjan. In 2009 and 2010, she took part in the TV programme Wozo Vacances, then in 2021 in the youth TV programme Variestocope with the group Wabononou Système. In the meantime, she has been training in choreographic workshops with Merlin Bleriot Nyakam (2018), Jenny Mezile (2019) and Nadia Beugré (2022), while performing occasionally with artists from the Ivorian music scene such as Vitale and choreographers such as Krimbo Delagringe (2013), Yves Thomas Ble (2015) and Georges Momboye (2020).
Beyoncé is performing in Beugré’s Prophétique (on est déja né.es) that has been extensively touring since 2023 in Europe, Brazil and Canada.
Kevin Sery
Born in 1996 in Côte d’Ivoire, Kevin started dancing at the age of 9 at school and in his neighborhood. With a passion for dance, he took part in 2005 in Wozo Vacances, a very popular dance reality show for children and teenagers, and again in 2013, under the direction of choreographer Henri Joel. He then joined the Moaye Ivoire company directed by Amany Stéphane Kouassi. As part of the company, he took part in the Ouagadougou International Festival, the 8th Jeux de la Francophonie, and various concerts at the Palais de la Culture and Hôtel Ivoire. Elysée Goli wrote for him the solo EnZe-Li.
In 2021, he met Nadia Beugré who invited him to perform in Prophétique (on est déja né.es) that has been extensively touring since 2023 in Europe, Brazil and Canada.
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