Press – À mon bel amour

« Anne Nguyen’s latest piece contains a powerful lyrical statement. […] Her hip-hop choreography probes the very premise of what gives individuals, couples, collective entities their personal and cultural identity. ”In a world where we struggle to agree on values, is it possible to reach a consensus on the idea of beauty?” »

« Anne Nguyen is back with a warriors’ dance to beauty, exploring the ways in which the body transcends itself in images and postures to find its true existence. There is not the slightest hint of lyricism or romanticism in Anne Nguyen’s latest piece, despite the title. It is to be perceived rather as a declaration of love and a tribute to dance, the beauty of the physical gesture, an ode to movement and other cultures. […] Daring to expose and claim the body’s identity, the piece questions both the canons of beauty and our ways of existing, while interrogating the spectator’s gaze. »

« The whole of the stage bristled with hypnotic, unfathomable gestures. Were they mirroring our own? »

« The dancers’ gaze is frank and forward-facing. The viewing audience looks at the performers, who return its gaze. The choreography of the piece takes the form of a procession and the dancers play along, exaggerating their movements to the limits of their capabilities. Dancing solo, in pairs, or in groups, they assert their identities, occupy the space, free themselves from the public gaze, expressing their freedom through their bodies and emancipated gestures. They all represent archetypes, claim to be part of a culture and challenge anyone denying them their access to beauty.»

« In À mon bel amour, four male and four female dancers advance towards the audience like a swelling tide in the ocean. They move forward alone, with the self-assurance of a catwalk model; in pairs, or even in groups as if invited onto a film set. They challenge our perception of the individual, the couple or group in a far-reaching exploration of the concepts of identity and beauty. À mon bel amour at once contains a great freedom and power of movement, a sense of liberation, tremendous vitality and spontaneity, as well as a geometric perfection and a completeness of space and relationship to the ground, a controlled release of energy. Anne Nguyen’s choreography is both a transgression of movement and ceremony, it is a cosmology. »