PROPHÉTIQUE (ON EST DÉJÀ NÉ.ES)

For her most recent work, Nadia Beugré returned to her hometown of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, meeting members of the local transgender community: People who move between genders, in a patriarchal society that, at best, pretends not to notice them. Hairdressers by day, divas on the dancefloor by night, they live both publicly and in secrecy at the same time, stirring up Abidjan nights by coming up with their own dances: a mixture of voguing and coupé-décalé. We delve
into this in-between world in which fixed roles have ceased to exist and experience an exciting evening during which everything becomes fluid and mutable: the performers’ bodies as well as the stage space, which fluctuates between performance stage and hairdressers’ salon. The personal stories and relations from within the ensemble – comprised of non-professional as well as professional dancers – paints an intimate portrait of this community.

Following LEGACY and L’HOMME RARE, both of which also performed at SPIELART, Nadia Beugré continues her examination of gender and identity with PROPHÉTIQUE, developing a far-reaching critique on ascribed and assumed role models: in family, in society, in history.