LIFT 2024: Nadia Beugré – L'Homme rare
With innovative choreography and staging, Nadia Beugré brings perceptions of gender, and how we view and objectify bodies, into stark relief.
The issue of gender has always featured in Nadia Beugré’s work, but in L’Homme rare she tackles it head-on, questioning the attention paid to bodies and the qualities attributed to their movements.
Starting with a game that blurs perceptions of gender, the choreographer places the spectator in the position of a voyeur, inviting the audience to experience her research on our understanding of the body, particularly Black and male, in history and today.
The faces of the five dancers are not visible. The choreography is executed solely using their backs, inspired by dance techniques and styles that principally utilise the pelvis. With the insistent use of buttocks, these practices are seen as being more feminine, challenging or even chipping away at a strongly built and assimilated masculinity.
L’Homme rare also acts as a reflection on the history of Europeans’ gaze on Black bodies and its persistence today.
Presented as part of London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT)
Need to know
There is a post-show discussion with the creative team after the performance on Wednesday 12 June.
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