Choreographing for the Next Generation: Reinventing Dance for Young Audiences

Claudine Colozzi

French contemporary dance is experiencing a transformation, as established choreographers embrace young audiences with innovative productions. Through national initiatives and dedicated festivals, artists are discovering that creating for children demands both artistic rigor and a reimagining of their craft, leading to unexpected creative breakthroughs and increased opportunities.

“I might never have ventured into the world of young audiences without this commission,” says choreographer Amala Dianor. The artist, who began his career as a hip-hop dancer, was invited to create a new piece for children by ‘Mouvements Minuscules,’ an initiative of France’s LOOP Network for Dance and Youth. To create the resulting piece Coquilles, in the fall of 2024 Dianor spent several days in day-care centers “reconnecting with the world of infants and toddlers,” an experience he describes as “very significant” for his already well-established artistic career.

Like Dianor, France’s dance world is increasingly opening up to young audiences. Admittedly, this is not a new phenomenon – choreographers such as Jean-Claude Gallotta, Thomas Lebrun, and José Montalvo have been creating works specifically for young audiences since the 1990’s. But, over the last decade, dance artists and the organizations that co-produce their work have been increasingly paying attention to what kinds of artistic experiences they can offer to the next generation.

Le Gymnase, a National Center for Choreographic Development in the northern city of Roubaix, created Forever Young, the first dance festival for young audiences, in 2006. Eight years later, the venue launched La Belle Saison, a three-year program that commissioned works for children and adolescents. Le Gymnase then spearheaded the creation of LOOP, bringing together 24 organizations nationally that co-produce and present dance to further support links with young audiences. “A momentum has been created,” says Lise Saladain, Managing Director of La Manufacture, another National Center for Choreographic Development in Bordeaux, initiator of the Pouce Festival for the under-15 crowd and a member of LOOP. “An increasing number of choreographers have ventured into this field,” she says, “without compromising on the high standards of their work nor their artistic convictions.”

This state of mind also underpinned choreographer Marion Muzac’s approach to creating work for young audiences. Her piece Le Petit B, created in October 2022, was also commissioned by LOOP’s ‘Mouvements Minuscules.’ “The stakes were high, and I was determined not to take the easy road just because I was making a piece for very young children,” says Muzac. “I wanted to preserve the characteristics of my abstract and very contemporary approach, and I imagined a piece connecting gentleness and calm for children and adults alike.”

What’s different, perhaps, is the support and collateral activities required for this type of dance piece. Awareness-raising activities, parent-child workshops... Before each show, Le Petit B’s performers take the time to welcome the audience personally. A moment that Muzac says resembles a “rite of passage” or a “decompression chamber,” before inviting spectators young and old to discover the stage and watch the performance.

Creating for young audiences requires special attention to time, space, choreography, and sound. There’s little room for error with the very young. On the other hand, almost anything is possible, as long as you don’t forget who your target audience is. “Today, choreographic creation for children and young people is very vibrant,” says Anne Sauvage, the director of Atelier de Paris, a National Center for Choreographic Development in the capital that launched the PULSE Festival for dance and childhood in 2022. “We’re seeing works that play with other artistic fields, that seek to be close to the audience, that call for the participation of local residents, or that take up social issues and challenges that are, or will be, decisive for these young spectators.”

Gradually shedding its reputation as a “sub-genre,” dance for young audiences often implies more intensive work for choreographers. “I needed time to find the right language,” says Dianor. “But in the end, by becoming a storyteller, I was able to understand what would capture their attention.”

Emilie Lalande and her choreographic partner Jean-Charles Jousni, who both worked with Ballet Preljocaj, set up a company dedicated to creating dance pieces for young audiences in 2015. “I very quickly felt the need to create moments of sharing,” explains Lalande, who works on the boundaries between reality and fiction, relying primarily on repurposing everyday objects. “In addition to stimulating children’s imaginations, using these objects in different ways questions the hidden meaning of what surrounds us and, more generally, the very meaning of life itself,” she says. Even if it’s often a bold gamble for a company, she describes addressing a young audience as “very gratifying.”

Choreographers tend to evoke another big plus of creating for children: programming more performances. “When one takes into account how many times a piece is performed on average [in France] – usually no more than three times in one venue – it is a wonderful surprise to see how many additional performances dancing for young audiences requires,” says Muzac. Le Petit B has already been performed more than 350 times. The choreographer still can’t believe what an amazing opportunity it’s s been. “It’s such a privilege to be able to work out the kinks of a piece over time and make it better, performance after performance,” she says.

Beyond increased demand for shows, a financial boon for dance companies, one of the biggest perks of creating for younger audiences is the ability to share certain perspectives on the world with the next generation. “As programmers, we also have this desire and feel this responsibility to shape these future citizens’ awareness of certain issues,” concurs Saladain. An aim, by incorporating social impact, that elevates youth-geared performances.

In the mid-1990s, while she was still a student majoring in journalism in Lille, Claudine Colozzi interned at the dance magazine Les Saisons de la danse, where she learned to sharpen her critical perspective. As a journalist, she works for magazines, teaches, and writes on a variety of topics, notably disability. She continues to feed her insatiable curiosity for dance by writing for websites such as Danses avec la plume and L’œil d’Olivier. She has written documentary books for young audiences : L’Encyclo de la danse (Gründ), Dans les coulisses de l’Opéra, La danse classique and Passion hip-Hop (Nathan).

Le Petit B
Choreography: Marion Muzac
March 2 to 4 at Théâtre de l’Arsenal, Val de Reuil
March 6 to 8 at Théâtre de Corbeil-Essonnes
March 17 to 22 at La Garance Scène nationale de Cavaillon
March 25 to 27 at Théâtre d’Arles
May 18 at Festi Bout’Chou, Pechbonnieu

Coquilles
Choreography: Amala Dianor
March 8 at Théâtre de Vanves
March 22 at l’Atelier de Paris CDCN
March 16 at Centre Culturel Jacques Prévert, Villeparisis
March 22 & 23 at Festival Petits et Grands, Nantes

Pierre et le Loup
Choreography: Emilie Lalande
February 25 & 26 at Grand Théâtre de Provence, Aix-en-Provence

PETROUCHKA ou le choix d’Holubichka
Choreography: Emilie Lalande
May 27 & 28 at Quartz, scène nationale de Brest

Pulse Festival
From March 1st to 29 at l’Atelier de Paris CDCN

LOOP network
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Le Gymnase CDCN
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La Manufacture CDCN
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