Sugar is a symbol of a dehumanizing moment in history, namely that of colonization. In Le Sacre du sucre (The Rite of Sugar) choreographer Lēnablou evokes a way of living that has taken root in the Caribbean. Igniting a danced moment of creativity amongst a dark history, she channels the unpredictable art of fap-fap, an aesthetic of harmony, that emanates from disorder. 

Sugar cane has forcibly created a history, memory, and culture for people that recalls suffering. Despite this, Le Sacre du sucre refuses the narration of colonial heritage, creating space for a moment in the here and now with a cracked, chaotic dance. She presents a rickety body that converses with sound and with itself to write its own history, stripped of all entrapment.

Le Sacre du sucre marks the end point of a decades-long engagement with all the conceptual elements of the culture of gwoka dance—namely bigidi, makèdansè, lawonn, and rèpriz. Inviting those who witness this dance performance to follow her in an abstract and anarchic body-sound stroll, she welcomes onlookers to the here and there, where no set narrative is staged, and rather only the sparks of gestures and sounds dancing in the bal du lawonn (lawonn ball), the Afro-centric social space where gwoka unravels. 

 

Choreographer: Lēnablou 
Body & Sound Performers: Lēnablou, Félix Flauzin, Allan Blou 
Artistic Perspective: James Carles 
Musical Direction: Daniel Trépy 
Sound Engineer: Steeve Lancastre 
Design of Sound Accessories: Félix Flauzin 
Lighting Design: Roger Olivier 
Lighting Manager: Roger Olivier 
Co-production: INSA Lyon, L’Artchipel Scène Nationale de la Guadeloupe, Campement Dromesko, Cie Trilogie Lafabri’k