America

Martin Harriague, choreographer and head of dance at the Opéra Grand Avignon (he has since taken over as director of the Centre National Chorégraphique de Biarritz), writes an anti-Trump manifesto that lands like a punch!

The rise of the famous American tycoon to the White House inspired him to create America, a mischievous yet bold satire of today's society, shot through with visual flourishes and carried by outstanding, electrifying performers.

America literally sweeps its twelve dancers into a spectacular show that matches the entertaining and chilling figure of Donald Trump himself.

Taking this paradox head-on, the piece swings ceaselessly between roughness and sensitivity, brutality and gentleness, as if to better wring the neck of the current US President's simplistic rhetoric.

With a perfectly controlled sense of symbolism and mocking illustration, it shows us parodic movements, gestures of protection or protest, grimaces of anger or disgust.

And it grabs us head-on, alternating an introductory solo to Nina Simone, syncopated danced sequences, faces masked in the President's likeness, and sound fragments of his speeches that set the tempo and energy.

An eloquent testament to the keen eye of Martin Harriague — awarded the 2025 Grand Prix de la Critique for his piece Crocodile — on the events tearing apart the United States. And, beyond that, the world.