Chaos Elégant

Chaos Elégant transports the audience to Cotonou (Benin’s economic capital) into the

daily life of young urban dancers who meet in the evening, on the asphalt of a busy avenue

or on the pavement of a public square to practice.

From improvisation, they summon out the principle of the « Trip all », a state of body

exploration which transforms the hazard, the unexpected and the obstacle into a creative

opportunity. Wether it’ll be a failure, an impediment, a car breakdown, a power failure, an

injury, an insult or hunger that may be felt ? Everything can be « recycled », sometimes just

in time, to provide the substance used to create the choregraphed component of the creative

work. With these different elements is then formulated with raw elegance the chaos

of an often harsh but never resigned existence. Each with their own experience, story and

dance style – Break, Flexing, Voguing, Krum… – that they bring into resonence with the traditionnal

and ceremonial dances of Benin – Zinli, Tchikoumé…, deploy their reaction force

and their fury of overcoming.

Chaos Elégant tells the story of the facetiousness, games and challenges of this collective

of young urban dancers. Encouraged by the live percussion, -a drum kit combining traditionnal

instruments with recycled objects-, the energy spreads to the limit of overflow. It is

the same energy that accompanies Egungun ceremonies, that is a cult in the the Benin- Nigeria

region in which ancestors come to the living and manifest themselves through dance.

Chaos Elégant therefore paints the portrait of Benin’s busting capital, with its emblematic

figures such as the gan houmito, the neighborood bandit who imposes his law but is

laughed at from behind, the choko, the show-off who pushes elegance to excess, and the

zemidjans (« take me quickly » in Fon) motorcycle cabs. The cabs are recognizable by their

yellow shirts, which appeared thirty years ago to compensate for the lack of public transport,

and whose existence -many of whom are university graduates – bears witness to the

development problems of the country.

Chaos Elegant also tells the moving story of choreographer Arouna Guindo who, dented by

life, managed to get out of the street, and out of an inner chaos through dancing.

Jaï Production, coproduction Institut Français du Bénin, Residence and sponsor:  Le Centre – Lobozounkpa (September 2020 / January 2021).

Premiere at Institut Français du Bénin, Cotonou October the 9th, 2020 &  January 22th 2021, and in

Parakou, December 10th 2020.