PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE

A walk for eight poppers – Production 2012 / Recreation 2026 – duration 60 min – All audiences

Premieres on 9 & 10 October 2026 at Opéra de Massy (near Paris)

Anne Nguyen is recreating PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE, an emblematic show of the par Terre Dance Company, first created in 2012.

PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE is a non-stop on-stage journey along a timeline for eight popping specialists, an explosive hip-hop dance style based on blocked, isolated, dislocated muscle movements. From compact mass to molecular chains, from ideally ordered formations resembling military parades to differentiation, the dancers proceed through a succession of evanescent states. Together they comprise a moving matter endowed with a collective memory, their past evolutions re-emerging cyclically, confronting oblivion, instinct and the desire of creation. Along this living timeline, in which the individual struggles alternately against a deterministic path and his own imprisonment, the hip-hop dance is broken down and transposed into a lateral movement that becomes enchanting. Played out against an electronic musical score with industrial overtones, PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE examines the various possible states of “togetherness” in an ever-changing society.

“Why is the dance beautiful? Answer: because it is an unfree movement. Because the deep meaning of the dance is contained in its absolute, ecstatic submission, in the ideal non-freedom.” In Yevgeny Zamyatin’s dystopia We (1920), the promenade is a march in rows of four, in which the state of synchronization appears like a victory over the uncertainty of Nature.

Anne Nguyen is working on a new version of PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE, a walk for eight poppers. This emblematic show of the par Terre Dance Company was created in 2012 and will premiere in its new version in October 2026 at Opéra de Massy, where Anne Nguyen is an associate artist. We are currently looking for partners and pre-bookings for this show (as soon as October 2026 and throughout the coming seasons).

CAST

Choreography: Anne Nguyen
Original music: Benjamin Magnin
Lighting design: Ydir Acef
Dancers recreation 2026: ongoing
Dancers original version 2012: Sonia Bel Hadj Brahim or Cintia Golitin, Pascal Luce or Matthieu Pacquit, Claire Moineau, Blondy Mota-Kisoka, Sacha Négrevergne, Jessica Noita, Rebecca Rheny, Mélanie Sulmona / Understudy dancers: Bouzid Aït-Atmane, Yanka Pédron
Assistant choreographer recreation 2026: Jessica Noita
Assistant choreographer original version 2012: Magali Duclos
Stage managers recreation 2026: ongoing

PARTNERS RECREATION

Production: par Terre / Anne Nguyen Dance Company.
Coproduction: Opéra de Massy, La Manufacture CDCN Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux • La Rochelle, as part of the associate artist-in-residence program by the ministry of Culture.
The par Dance Company is funded by l’Aide pluriannuelle du ministère de la Culture / DRAC Île-de-France, la Région Île-de-France for “Permanence Artistique et Culturelle” and l’Aide au fonctionnement du Département du Val-de-Marne.
In 2025/2026, the par Terre / Anne Nguyen Dance Company is an associate artist to La Manufacture CDCN Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux • La Rochelle, as part of the associate artist-in-residence program by the ministry of Culture, to Théâtre des 2 Rives de Charenton-le-Pont, to Théâtre Molière -> Sète scène nationale de l’archipel de Thau and to Théâtre des Bergeries – Noisy-le-Sec.
In 2025/2026, the par Terre / Anne Nguyen Dance Company is in residency at l’Opéra de Massy.

PARTNERS ORIGINAL VERSION

Production: par Terre / Anne Nguyen Dance Company.
With the support of: l’aide à la production d’Arcadi; l’ADAMI; le Conseil général du Val-de-Marne; la Communauté de Communes Charenton – Saint-Maurice.
Coproduction: Parc de la Villette; Centre de Danse du Galion d’Aulnay-sous-Bois; Les Théâtres Charenton – Saint-Maurice; Initiatives d’Artistes en Danses Urbaines (Fondation de France – Parc de la Villette, with the support of la Caisse des Dépôts and l’Acsé); Centre de développement chorégraphique du Val-de-Marne; CCN de La Rochelle / Poitou-Charentes; CCN de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne / Cie Käfig – dans le cadre de l’accueil studio.
With the partnership of: Centre national de la danse – mise à disposition de studio.

PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE was supported by l’aide à la diffusion d’ARCADI en Ile-de-France for the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons.
PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE was supported by la Charte de diffusion interrégionale signed by Onda, Arcadi, OARA, ODIA Normandie and Réseau en scène – Languedoc-Roussillon for its touring between September 2013 and December 2014.

Premieres on 9 & 10 October, 2026 | Opéra de Massy (near Paris)

“Anne Nguyen’s choreography resembles a well-lubricated dance machine, but a machine powered by individuals who create their own sounds. […] The dancers are incredibly precise and coordinated, whether they are walking upright or crawling across the floor like animals. They form intricate chains, hinting at the fact that contact improvisation—a contrasting form to popping—is one of the ingredients. […] PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE is a physically intelligent, fascinating and exhilarating piece. Popping refined and restructured into a kind of multilayered cubism."

Svenska Dagbladets (May 11th, 2013) / Sweden

“There has been, for a while now, a feeling of a captivating singularity hanging around Anne Nguyen. No use searching any longer, this singularity finds its full expression in PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE, a dance piece in which, for the first time, hip hop movements become enchanting. Anne Nguyen shows her capacity to set up a real collective piece of work, extremely choreographic and deeply rooted in “the essence of hip hop”, which artistic meaning is fully revealed by the message and intentions."

La Terrasse – Nathalie Yokel (September 2012)

Read the press

“Thrill of energy
I seldom have seen a show that succeeds in maintaining a rhythm of such high intensity. The uninterrupted rhythm, full of energy, gives support to an hour of life crossing. This is reinforced by a minimalist scenography and light. The eight poppers of par Terre Dance Company plunge in Nguyen’s piece with great prowess. They are to be seen sideways and seldom look back at us.

[…] The dancers symbolize changes of life, obstacles, traps, happiness and tiredness through movements–the shiver of a hand, a foot looking for somewhere to hang on to or perfect synchronizations–thus managing to pass on the greatest feelings. This piece of great density creates a world of its own. Like being sucked into a black hole, the spectator is fully immersed in PROMENADE OBLIGATOIRE. One quickly understands that what is dealt with is much deeper than daily life topics. Nguyen says to be inspired by physics and the spirit of her explorations is revealed on stage: looking for the role of Man in his environment… Alchemy and sensations are one and the same in this full circle.”