Masculin Pluriel [transmission 2025]

A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Cours de danse contemporaine hommes des Ateliers culturels de Nay, coordinator Sarah Sénèque, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme 2024/2025 (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

Transmission by Christian Bourigault, choreographer.

Presented on 14 June 2025, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand.

The piece when it was created

Masculin Pluriel

Firstly produced 6 March 2002 at Espace Michel Simon of Noisy-le-Grand

Choreography: Christian Bourigault

Piece for 8 performers: Cyril Accorsi, Philippe Cohen-Selmon, Henri-Emmanuel Doublier, Walter N’Guyen, Laurent Perrier, Alban Richard, Noele Van Kelst, David Wampach

Music: Laurent Perrier

Original duration: 110 minutes

The group

Cours de danse contemporaine hommes des Ateliers culturels de Nay (Pau, Nouvelle-Aquitaine)

Led by dance teacher Sarah Sénèque, the group was created in 2015, in Nay (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). It brings together 7 amateur dancers, all men of various ages and professions, who take part every week in a contemporary dance workshop mixing technique and improvisation. Regular weekend workshops are organized with guest choreographers such as Enrique Martin, Lola Kéraly and Christian Bourigault. The troupe works in a rehearsal space located in the heart of a public building in the commune of Nay. This is the troupe’s first appearance in the Danse en amateur et répertoire program.

The project

Sarah Sénèque was inspired to take part in Danse en amateur et répertoire by discussions with choreographer Christian Bourigault during workshops. The choice of the piece Masculin Pluriel, created in 2002 by Bourigault for eight men, was an obvious choice for the all-male group led by Sarah Sénèque. Originally, the artist set out to answer the question: “Why can’t I talk to another man about intimate things?” His intention was to question the place of men as fathers, brothers, lovers, friends… as well as the patriarchal model. One of the challenges of this transmission was to get the troupe to work with a man, contrary to their usual practice, and to be confronted with gestures carried by dancers. A series of extracts, somewhere between dance and theater, was developed by Christian Bourigault himself.

Danse en amateur et répertoire is a program of financial support and coaching for groups of amateur dancers. It provides a space for those wishing to deepen their knowledge and practice of dance and its history. 

Laurent Barré
Head of Research and Choreographic Directories
Anne-Christine Waibel
Research Assistant and Choreographic Directories
+33 (0)1 41 83 43 96
danse-amateur-repertoire@cnd.fr 

More information: https://www.cnd.fr/en/page/323-danse-en-amateur-et-repertoire-grant-programme