Quartiers Libres

Are there spaces where we cannot go? Places that we do not have the right to explore? And if we enter them, what would become of us?

Nadia Beugré’s ‘Quartiers Libres’ (meaning free reign) creates a space to explore those forbidden places in which we choose to wander. In a fight with a world willing to bury her, piles of empty plastic bottles and Nadia’s body start to amalgamate, merge, and melt. By blurring the lines between the performer and audience, Nadia transcends the stage with athletic choreography, tangled in endless microphone cable, and surrounded by mountains of waste. Becoming trapped within herself and her surroundings, she struggles to reach out to the humanity around her.  

Taking over the stage and the audience with breathless, raw energy, ‘Quartiers Libres’ is an arresting solo performance by the Ivorian choreographer, startling with immediacy and unnerving imagery.   

France-based Nadia Beugré began her career in a traditional dance theatre in the Ivory Coast.  In 1997, she was one of the founders of the Tché Tché dance company, along with the multiple award-winning Béatrice Kombé. She studied at Germaine Acogny’s Ecole des Sables in Senegal, a training centre for traditional and contemporary dance techniques. Having conquered the French stage, she has opened herself up to the international dance scene. Her works ‘Legacy’ (2015) and ‘Tapis Rouge’ (2017) have been performed at major events including the Festival d’Automne in Paris and the Holland Festival in Amsterdam as well as in many other cities around the world. Nadia recently founded dance company Libr’Arts in Montpellier, a platform for production, touring and training between France and Ivory Coast.

A Libr’Arts / Virginie Dupray production. With support from Choreographic National Center, Agora-Montpellier Danse, and Choreographic Development Centre.