This guest-performance is supported by the National Culture Fund.
Since his early work, Kevin Jean has questioned the forces that shape us. With the performance “To the Point” he now turns his attention to masculinity and asks “Why are men afraid of no longer being seen as men?”
“Grinding machine, producer of sexism and violence, masculinity must be sabotaged.”
observes the choreographer. He begins with his own experiences to examine the stakes in exposing his own body as well as his partners’, each in their own individual posture of empowerment.
Working with the pelvis, a taboo part of the body for contemporary Western white men, he simultaneously thwarts the gender binary by choosing the opposite of manliness: vulnerability, sensitivity, tenderness, and generosity of self, while inciting a necessary transformation of representations.
Erotic and sexual dances are more often interpreted by women who put themselves under the gaze while respecting specific codes. What happens when people assigned male at birth choose to sexualize themselves similarly? Subjects of our gaze, the performers invite us to welcome their bodies and our emotions as they welcome us in the theater: with respect and love.
Kevin Jean is a choreographer and dancer. He is or has performed for Stéphanie Aubin, Odile Duboc, Myriam Gourfink, Phillipe Grandrieux, Yann Marussich, Julie Nioche, Pascal Rambert, and Alban Richard. Since 2011, he has collaborated with Nina Santes within the framework of “La Fronde”, a cooperative production platform for choreography, space for innovations, creations of performances and utopias.
“The 36th Chamber” (2011), “Behind the Green Door (2012), “Paradises“ (2015) – a performance that was also invited to the “Antistatic” Festival in 2017 – as well as the participatory performance “Some Other Paradises” form a first cycle of creations in which he explores the relationships between the environment and our behaviors, our capacities to coexist and cooperate, to liberate us by playing with constraints, norms, and handicaps.
In 2016, he created “Les Promesses du Magma” in collaboration with the rap artist Casey at the Avignon Festival. He was commissioned by the Reunionese Parkour group New Gravity with “The Sweet way” in 2018. In 2019, he began a new cycle with “The Cyclon Pursuit (to destroy a world and be reborn)”, “To the Point (to sabotage masculinities)” as well as “Time for Nothing (to contemplate)” in 2021.
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