For the past twenty years, Toulouse-based dancer and choreographer Pierre Rigal has explored organic, playful, athletic and communal choreographic forms, notably through the large-scale works of the Cultural Olympiad in Seine-Saint-Denis and Marseille in 2024. This new creation for eight dancers and two musicians explores the ancestral, archaic and universal form of the circle dance in a magnificent tribute that is at once generous and playful, full of rebounds, acrobatics and repeated trance-like figures. A dynamic, highly graphic choreography that will carry us into a large-scale collective experience.
For the past twenty years, Toulouse-based dancer and choreographer Pierre Rigal has explored organic, playful, athletic and communal choreographic forms, notably through the large-scale works of the Cultural Olympiad in Seine-Saint-Denis and Marseille in 2024. This new creation for eight dancers and two musicians explores the ancestral, archaic and universal form of the circle dance in a magnificent tribute that is at once generous and playful, full of rebounds, acrobatics and repeated trance-like figures. A dynamic, highly graphic choreography that will carry us into a large-scale collective experience.
BIOGRAPHY
> PIERRE RIGAL (FR)
Born in Moissac in 1973, Pierre Rigal was a high-level athlete (400 metres and 400-metre hurdles) before earning a degree in mathematical economics and then a postgraduate diploma in film from the École supérieure d’audiovisuel in Toulouse. As a young dancer, he worked with choreographers Heddy Maalem, Bernardo Montet, Wim Vandekeybus, Nacera Belaza and Philippe Decouflé, as well as directors Mladen Materic and Guy Alloucherie. In 2002, he joined Gilles Jobin’s company (Under Construction and The Moebius Strip), then created his first solo, Érection, in 2003 with director Aurélien Bory. He has since created dozens of works bringing together contemporary, classical and hip-hop dancers, acrobats and musicians, both for his own company and in international collaborations. In 2021, he directed his first opera, The Magic Flute, then Ballet Jogging (with 150 amateur runners) in Marseille and the youth parade that brought together 1,000 young people, 16 artists and 8 cultural venues in Seine-Saint-Denis for the Cultural Olympiad (2024). R·ONDE·S (2024) and Fraternel.le (2025) are his latest creations.
DISTRIBUTION
Pierre Rigal (concept, choreography and direction), Mélanie Chartreux (artistic collaboration), Ismaël Belabid-Lenoir, Camille Hinsinger, David Mazon, Yohann Baran, Maé Nayrolles, Jacob Neff, Léa Pérat and Emma Rouaix (performance), Gwenaël Drapeau and Mélanie Chartreux (original music), George Dyson (sound diffusion and general management), Christophe Bergon (lighting designer), Pierre-Louis Mascia (costumes), Victor Deneumoustier (costume assistant), Suzanne Maugein and Nathalie Vautrin (production management).
PRODUCTION
Co-production
Compagnie Dernière Minute / Pierre Rigal, Centre des Monuments Nationaux, Le ZEF, Marseille National Stage, L’Usine, National Center for Street Arts and Public Space in Tournefeuille, Malandain, Ballet Biarritz, National Choreographic Center of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Tandem, Arras-Douai National Stage, Essonne National Stage – Agora-Desnos.
With the support of ADAMI, the City of Toulouse, and the Occitanie Region as part of their creation grant program.
Acknowledgements
La Nouvelle Digue – Cie 111 Aurélien (residency)
Bory, Le Théâtre de la Cité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie, La Place de la Danse, CDCN Toulouse Occitanie
Compagnie Dernière Minute receives support from the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs of Occitanie and the City of Toulouse.
Pierre Rigal has been an associate artist since 2024 at Estice, the national stage of Foix and Ariège.
