MARLENE MONTEIRO FREITAS
NÔT
1h45
The highly acclaimed Cape Verdean choreographer takes on the famous tale of The Thousand and One Nights, infusing it with her mechanical, political, almost incantatory movements. A sumptuous and intoxicating show that disorients to the point of making you lose your sense of reality.
Marlene Monteiro Freitas is a star of contemporary dance. Consider, for example, the Silver Lion that she was awarded at the Venice Biennale in 2018. In 2022, the Paris Autumn Festival will dedicate a portrait to her with two programmes presented at La Villette, and this summer, she will be the first person ever to open the Cour d’honneur of the Festival d’Avignon with a dance performance. The fact that her dancing is so personal is what has made her such a star. Her choreographic, pantomime vocabulary is instantly recognisable to anyone. For Marlene Monteiro Freitas, movement involves the whole body, from the tongue to the toes, by way of the eye sockets. Backs are as stiff as a justice system that has lost its sense of right and wrong. In Nôt, she holds back the night, because Scheherazade could die at daybreak. Marlene Monteiro Freitas focuses on this exercise in survival. She uses dance to express the energy of stories that have been transmitted from one generation to the next. Movement becomes a flow that is intersected, limited, and contradicted by other flows. The performance delights in the ambiguities between vice and virtue, between the immense and the minuscule, and between lies and the truth.
Performance conducted in French, Arabic, and English.
Cultural action and mediation
As part of its Artistic and Cultural Education (EAC) policy, La Villette will welcome in 2025/26 more than 16,000 pupils and participants from social-sector organizations or healthcare and medico-educational institutions, as well as 2,000 university students.
Choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas Assistant choreographer Francisco Rolo With Marie Albert, Joãozinho da Costa, Miguel Filipe, Ben Green, Henri “Cookie” Lesguillier, Tomás Moital, Rui Paixão, Mariana Tembe Set design Yannick Fouassier, Marlene Monteiro Freitas Sound Rui Antunes Lighting Yannick Fouassier Administration, production P.OR.K Distribution Key Performance
Practical information
Grande Halle – Espace Charlie Parker
Métro
Ligne 5 - Porte de Pantin
Tram
Tram 3b - Porte de Pantin
Bus
Bus 75, 151 : Porte de Pantin
Parking
Q-Park
Philharmonie
Q-Park
Cité de la Musique - La Villette
Q-Park
Cité de la Musique - Conservatoire
Parking
Cité des Sciences
Bike GH
Vélib' docking points
Bike racks
Electric bikes
A battery container is located in front of the Grande Halle.
- Performance conducted in French, Arabic, and English.
- Accessible to people with reduced mobility (PRM). Please contact 01 40 03 75 75
- Partially accessible to deaf individuals, depending on the programming.
- Partially accessible to individuals with hearing aids, depending on the programming.
- Partially accessible to visually impaired and blind individuals.
- Accessible to individuals with psychological, cognitive, and intellectual disabilities.
- Performance conducted in French, Arabic, and English.
- On-site dining before and after the show, offered by Soré.
- On-site dining before and after the show, to be discovered HERE.
Access to the venue is subject to a security check.
- The following are prohibited: all glass containers, sharp or blunt objects, weapons of any kind or replica weapons, animals except guide dogs for the blind, large luggage or bulky bags, and batteries for electric bikes or scooters.
- Security officers have sole discretion over which items are allowed or not.
- Bringing food into the performance hall is not permitted.
In collaboration with
