Rébecca Chaillon made a splash at the last Avignon Festival with Black card named desire. His very popular show, including The world highlighted the “masterful” intelligence, the “devastating” humor, received a superb reception. But it also led to a controversy, which created expectations unrelated to a play that the director, author and performer of Martinican origin does not consider shocking.
This sociopolitical satire dynamites the way we look at black women, sometimes “hypersexualizing, objectifying, dehumanizing” or all at the same time: “a concentrate of colonialism and a sexist and racist view of our bodies”. The piece performed by seven performers allows a reappropriation of these bodies, “gives us other imaginations than the reductive one to which we have been forced for a long time. It is an attempt to write about us by ourselves, for us, but with the very clear awareness that we are performing the play in an institution and in places where we are not the priority in terms of invitation or from point of view “.
A hybrid of theater and performance, “composed of poetic images, more improvised moments”, Black card immediately illustrates the question of point of view thanks to the bifrontal scenography: black spectators are invited, if they wish, to take their place on 30 seats located at the edge of the stage. “The idea was to have a privileged space to watch the show differently. » The opening scene shows the performers braiding Chaillon’s hair. “For some of us, it is a ritual that is very present in our lives and which means many things. For others, it’s an exotic question, almost. And so, immediately, the question of where we stand in relation to what they do is raised. I hope this makes us aware of from what place we look, we create or we speak. I think that there is a real – I would say naive – desire for universalism among people, which somewhat forgets the history and concreteness of the lives of black women. »
If she didn’t create Black card to tap the fingers of a predominantly Caucasian audience, the artist was happy to hear that “for some, it was the first time that they became aware of their whiteness, that they felt it in their body” . “This bifrontal allows that. There are always people who say: it’s a form of apartheid. But the majority of people tell me that this moment was important. Just to see the difference between “I feel concerned” and “I am concerned”. »
And for privileged spectators, the experience can be powerful. “It’s the first time for some — and it’s very shocking — that the perspective of the show is that of a black woman. Many returned to see him several times. With their mother, their little sister…”
In Avignon, the show, which had toured for two years without problem, provoked unprecedented aggressive reactions – verbal and physical. Chaillon attributes it to the divisive context at the time: “My hypothesis is that in France, we were in this period following the assassination of Nahel, a 17-year-old young man killed by the police, with popular revolts and police abuse. strong. And inevitably, these are questions raised in Black card. In particular, we asked: why is it possible to kill people who look like us with complete impunity, in the great silence of the left? »
Then, “the far right was unleashed” on social networks. “It’s extremely violent to be in the middle of a smear and cyberharassment campaign. We filed a complaint. »
If Rébecca Chaillon tries to concentrate on the success of her creation, which “touched an important place”, she was shaken. “It hasn’t been long since I started talking about it in the media again. I know what that entails now. Each thing we name is a piece put back into the mill of visibility which feeds the extreme right. What is violent is telling yourself that this is a way to win. When we start to scare people who think, and they start to tell themselves that it is better that they no longer speak or play, we are entering into a dictatorship. »
Celebrate yourself
Two years later The rare man, Nadia Beugré returns to the Festival TransAmériques with another sensual and political work. The choreographer from Ivory Coast, for whom “reaching out to those who are on the margins”, shedding light on the excluded, exploring the periphery is “a life mission”, was inspired here by the transgender community.
Prophetic (we are already born) emanates from a “great” encounter with the artist, made when an evening in a bar in Abidjan transformed into a drag queen show, where the waitresses became dancers. Beugré was struck by the sisterhood between these trans women who, she learned, worked during the day as hairdressers, beauticians, or otherwise sex workers.
Also thinking of the friends “found lifeless in their apartment just” because they were gay, with a stigmatizing social outlook, she wanted to pay tribute to these women. And offer them another space where they can openly assume their identity, “because the place makes them feel secure. I invite them to the set so that they can celebrate themselves, says Nadia Beugré from Montpellier, where her company is based. Because in Ivory Coast, they cannot afford to be everywhere. They go out in the evening. But during the day, with the outfit they [revêtent], they are not themselves! »
The designer therefore approached them and invited them to the rehearsal room. After discussions and a few days of workshops, she chose four dancers, out of the six performers in the show, which also includes professionals. Their stories were material for the choreographer: how to return to these traumatic events and “give light to push back these stigmas”. And help break down the “social wall”.
If his creation is titled Prophetic, it’s because these divas want to dream. In this world filled with chaos, violence and judgments, and not only in their native country, “they think of the good life, of joy, of love. I am doing this show to try to create this world, which is possible, which they dream of. It is prophetic, because a platform is offered to them so that they can celebrate life where it was not allowed. And taste a little freedom, even if it is fleeting.”