Filles-pétroles

Nadia Beugré

+ More info

Debates
Live performance

L'Oiseau-Mouche, Roubaix
55min
Pass Latitudes

For Filles-Pétroles, the choreographer Nadia Beugré creates a sizzling portrait of Aya and Christelle, roukasskass and coupé-décalé– style artists she met in the neighborhood she grew up in, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Anoura Aya Labarest is 21, and she lives in Abobo, a partisan red-light district of Abidjan. She threw herself into dancing as one might do trapeze in a circus – freely, and without a net. Coupé-décalé, roukasskass, acrobatic figures – she grabbed onto what has traditionally been masculine movement to claim her own sexuality, deconstructing her assigned femininity. Aya always hangs with Christelle Ehoué, whose nickname “Big Truck” was given to her because of her weight and her build, a name she wears with her trademark, irresistible flamboyance. Together they create a show, confronting the audience, sharing their dreams, their stories … The life journeys of Aya and Christelle mirror Nadia Beugré’s own journey: these female‑mirrors of another generation affirm their uniqueness with power and humor, in an Abidjan which is both plausible and transformed. These are “Petrol girls” which we must not let evaporate…

The representation on June 20th will be followed by a “coeurs critiques” debate led by Les Démêlées.

Accessibility infos :

Sudden changes of lighting
High sound level

Biography(s)

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.
Following a training at Germaine Acogny’s Ecole des sables in Senegal, she joined in 2009 ex.e.r.ce., Mathilde Monnier’s programme for talented, up-and-coming choreographers at the Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier.
She was soon staging productions of her own, including the still-touring solo Quartiers libres (‘Free rein’) in 2012.
Her first group piece, Legacy premiered at the La Bâtie festival in Geneva in 2015 and has also been performed at the Festival d’Automne in Paris, among other events. After Tapis Rouge (2017) and Roukasskaas Club (2019), Beugré presented L’Homme rare (2020), an all-male quintet performance, premiered at the Montpellier Dance Festival.
The same year, she directed choreography for Atem, a musical production of Staatstheater Darmstadt, followed by Entre deux, a piece for 8 dancers and 4 musicians (2022).
Her latest creation, made in Abidjan too, Prophétique (on est déjà né.es) invites six trans performers on stage.
Beugré also performs in works by fellow choreographers, such as Seydou Boro, Alain Buffard, Dorothée Munyaneza, Bernardo Montet, Rémy Héritier and Boris Charmatz.
In France, Nadia Beugré is since 2021 associate artist at the Briqueterie in Vitry-sur-Seine and associate artist to ICI CCN de Montpellier Occitanie (2023-2024).
She was awarded in 2023 the SACD Prize for New Choreographic Talent.
In December 2020, Nadia Beugré founded with Virginie Dupray 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.

Credits

Artistic director : Nadia Beugré
Assistant : Christian Romain Kossa
Performance : Anoura Aya Larissa Labarest, Christelle Ehoué
Original soundtrack : Yoan Richard
Other music : Fally Ipupa Seul amour, Roma Chiyaya Sur le beat
Light design : Beatriz Kaysel

Production : Libr’Arts / Virginie Dupray / Coproduction : La Briqueterie CDCN-du-Val-de-Marne, Le Théâtre de Rungis, CCN2 Grenoble – Accueil studio, Théâtre Molière de Sète Scène nationale Archipel de Thau, ICI CCN de Montpellier Occitanie / Direction Christian Rizzo
Supported by Goethe-Institut Abidjan for le cadre du Fonds A(RT)VENIR and la DRAC Occitanie – Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.