Mansouria

In an area of Marseille, a child runs from a place to another, from a school yard to a classroom, through a wasteland occupied by gypsies.

In a district of Marseilles, a child is running from square to square, from the school courtyard to the classroom, passing through a wasteland occupied by gypsies. In each of these places, he meets groups of children who sing and dance to smash hits or musics recalling their origins. Each encounter is the pretext to start a story or a dream.

This document was produced during a choreographic residency in the Bricarde district of Marseilles, at the instigation of the French Ministry of Culture, as part of urban social development. Through dance and music, Luc Riolon and Josette Baïz, who have worked with children for many years, have drawn up the sensitive map of the ethnic make-up of this city. The children’s hopes and dreams have been made into scenes and staged with their participation. Solitude, impossibility of boys and girls to communicate, desire to meet and party, fantasies about marriage and social recognition are all subjects tackled with humour or seriousness in a series of sequences acted out, danced and filmed with modesty or with an assumed sense of exhibitionism.

Source : Patrick Bossatti