As we are
Josephine & Bantu brings together two powerful choreographic voices in one evening that does not illustrate history, but breaks it open. In both works, the body is central as an archive: of colonial imagination, of passed-down stories, of resistance and redefinition.
The evening explores how bodies are seen, shaped, and read, and what happens when that gaze is reversed or disrupted. Here, dance is not representation, but an active questioning of image-making, origin, and ownership.
Duration tbc
Genre Dance
Language Language no problem
As we are
Josephine / Germaine Acogny | Alesandra Seutin
Josephine brings together two iconic women: Josephine Baker and Germaine Acogny. Two bodies, two histories, one charged dialogue. Baker, global star and projected icon of exoticism, who both embodied and undermined that image. Acogny, founder of contemporary African dance, who uses the body as political and poetic resistance.
The performance does not search for a polished tribute, but for friction. For how bodies are seen, used, remembered, and reinvented. Nothing here is simply told; everything is unsettled. Nothing is glorified; everything is questioned.
On stage, a tension emerges between archive and presence, between colonial imagery and ownership. Dance becomes language, and that language refuses to be tamed.-|-
Bantu – Creation 2026 / Gregory Maqoma
Bantu starts from the origin of the word: to be human, to be connected. But here, that is not a romantic idea, rather a process of repair. A return to what has been broken, removed, or forgotten.
The dancers carry history in their bodies. Not as concept, but as physical reality. Through rhythm, rupture, and repetition, a language emerges that is older than words. A language of breath, bone, and movement.
Bantu is both mourning and rebirth. The stage becomes a place of memory and uprising, where every gesture says: I exist, we exist, we continue to exist.
Credits
Josephine
Choreography Germaine Acogny, Alesandra Seutin
Performer Germaine Acogny
Staging & dramaturgy Mikaël Serre
Music Fabrice Bouillon-LaForest
Voices Alesandra Seutin, Jade Wheeler, Chris Brooker
Light & scenography Fabiana Piccioli, Enrico Bagnoli
Costumes PALOMA, Maison d’art CHANEL
Technical direction Oliver Hauser
Stage management Barry Strydom
Communications Isabelle Deville
Visual content Maxime Dos
Production Vony Sarfati
World premiere Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris – 24 September 2025
A production of Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, with support from CHANEL
Bantu – Creation 2026
Concept & choreography Gregory Maqoma
Music Yogin Sullaphen
Costumes Black Coffee Designs
Light Denis Hutchinson
Movement analysis Shanell Winlock-Pailman
Technical direction Oliver Hauser
Stage management Barry Strydom
Communications Isabelle Deville
Visual content Maxime Dos
Production Vony Sarfati-|-
Dancers
Rodolphe Allui, Anique Ayiboe, Profit Lucky, Amy Collé (École des Sables du Sénégal)
Nathan Attie Botha, Roseline Olga Wilkens, Noko Moses Moeketsi, Tshepo Neolan Molusi, Nkosana Mphumeleli Fakude, Monicca Ngwakwane Magoro, Gilbert Goliath, Thabang Albert Mdlalose (Vuyani Dance Theatre, South Africa)
Co-production The Joyce Theater New York, Théâtre de la Ville de Paris, Théâtres de la ville du Luxembourg
With support from CHANEL and Muse Art Foundation
In collaboration with Productions Sarfati