Three years, three takes on CN D Magazine

Laura Cappelle, Léa Poiré,
Belinda Mathieu

In 2022, CN D Magazine was created with the aim to provide a space where a reflection about dance could be proposed and made accessible for a wide readership. How has the magazine evolved since its first issue? What are its perspectives for the future? Laura Cappelle, Léa Poiré and Belinda Mathieu, the magazine’s successive editors in chief, share their experience and their expectations for the magazine’s future.

Beginnings with Laura Cappelle

When I first started jotting down notes for what was to become CN D Magazine, in the spring of 2022, the first things I wrote were: eclectic, resources, expectations about its quality. Three years and ten issues later, I think these words still characterize this magazine dedicated to dance and to artists. The magazine was born because Catherine Tsekenis, the director of the Centre national de la danse, wanted to create a new editorial project at a time when dance journalism wasn’t faring very well and things didn’t bode well for the future. The first issue was completed in barely a few months. 

With the precious assistance of Christophe Susset, the CND’s secretary, and Lise Kiner-Wolff who was head of digital communication, this first issue already attested to a will to navigate between various formats – written articles, audio pieces, video – and between various aesthetics, without hierarchy – spanning from historical nods to Rudolf Nureyev and Andy De Groat to the provocative work of Gisèle Vienne or Eisa Jocson.

Very quickly, CN D Magazine also took on major social issues in the dance world, such as yellowface and disabilities. Partnering with the various departments of the CN D, some articles have mobilized new resources, from archival documents and video to surveys relying on internal resources for professionals. 

As the magazine’s first editor in chief, I wanted to offer a similar diversity in terms of contributors. They represent different generations of dance journalists in France, and I’ve also regularly invited academics as well as foreign scholars, whose work was sometimes available in French for the very first time thanks to the magazine. The anglophone “twin” of the magazine is the result of a whole process of cultural transposition, with the titles and content of the articles adjusted to an English-speaking readership who might not have regular access to French press. 

Léa Poiré and Belinda Mathieu have taken on the editorship when I left the magazine, and have continued to strive for increasing diversity and openness. Behind the blue moving images of each table of contents, the magazine evokes all kinds of dance and addresses all types of dance makers and dance aficionados.

Deepening identity, Léa Poiré 

Summer of 2023. As I was becoming an independent journalist again after eight years working with the editorial team of Mouvement, I have to say I had my doubts as to the viability and security of my new position. By chance, this was exactly when I was offered to be Laura Cappelle’s successor as editor in chief of CN D Magazine. It feels oddly appropriate: the magazine answers a very pressing need to provide economic support to cultural media professionals and dance researchers, in order to safeguard and protect their expertise, their knowledge and a reflection on dance as an art form. 

I started on this mission and followed an editorial line focused on the general public, combining several approaches: a social one – when I highlighted the systemic violence in the dance world, a historical one – with an article documenting how contact-improvisation arrived in France – an educational and informative one – with special reports and explanatory articles –, a professional one – with an investigation on independent companies –, and an aesthetic one, like the paper on Café Müller. All these perspectives define dance not just as an art but as a popular, cultural, economic and political practice. 

As I produced six successive issues – one of which was done under the supervision of Laura and another supervising Belinda as I was passing the torch to her – my contribution has been about confirming the magazine’s identity and strengthening the existing internal processes. 

What I’ve heard behind the scenes was very moving for me. Each issue is completed in three months, thanks to the collective efforts of about twenty people whose skills and responsibilities complete each other: we have an advisor, journalists, artists, scholars, librarians, photographers and video artists, a translator, an editor in English, and someone who is in charge of proofreading, as well as a producer, a communication team and the direction of the CN D. This is a well-orchestrated ballet which always starts with a big meeting to select the articles and ends with last-minute phone calls and ultimate minute adjustments before the release of the new issue. 

I am now the coordinator of Atelier 210 in Brussels; working with CN D Magazine will have prolonged my career as a journalist during two years – a period during which I fully invested myself in this institutional media where journalistic excellence is cherished and valued.

Keep expanding, Belinda Mathieu

I became editor in chief of CN D Magazine in March 2025, following in Léa Poiré’s footsteps; I was happy to contribute to a collective project about dance which offers such a platform for reflection about the art form. This bilingual magazine has a dual purpose for me: it’s interesting for professionals and dance connoisseurs, but it’s also accessible to all. As an independent journalist who specializes in dance, I see the magazine as a space of resistance: as opposed to the current dominant trend in cultural press, it offers a platform for what is really at stake in the dance world instead of just reporting on which shows are currently being programmed. 

Thanks to the work of my predecessors, CN D Magazine has managed to carve out a place for itself in the dance world, at least in France. My goal is to consolidate this position by continuing to carry out the momentum they have created, opening up the magazine to other territories, reaching a wider audience, and establishing its place on the international stage. This is evident in the two issues I have contributed to, one of which I co-edited with Léa Poiré, featuring an analysis of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels alongside a report on young Brazilian dancers in the Maré favela in Rio

In the future, I want to continue developing the magazine through new creative and literary formats, for example by giving one artist carte blanche for each issue. I hope to create francophone, European, and international synergies with other dance magazines. I would like to expand the magazine’s distribution channels to include audio and video streaming platforms and social media in order to reach new readers.  

The existence of a magazine, especially one focused on dance, is fragile. To respond to this context, I believe it is essential to maintain rigorous journalism, find international solidarity, and take our place among the digital tools for disseminating information.

Laura Cappelle is a Paris-based journalist and scholar. In 2023, she was appointed associate professor at Sorbonne Nouvelle University. She edited a French-language introduction to dance history, Nouvelle Histoire de la danse en Occident (Seuil, 2020), and her new book, Créer des ballets au XXIe siècle, was published with CNRS Éditions in May 2024. She has been the Financial Times’ Paris-based dance critic since 2010, and the New York Times’ French theater critic since 2017. She is also an editorial consultant for CN D Magazine.

After studying dance, Léa Poiré became the dance specialist and deputy editor in chief for Mouvement magazine; she works in cultural journalism – from education to the media – and has worked as a researcher with choreographer Mette Edvardsen. Poiré is now the lead coordinator for Atelier 210 in Brussels, while pursuing her career as an independent journalist. 

Belinda Mathieu is a journalist and dance critic who works for several publications, including Télérama, Trois Couleurs and Sceneweb. She holds degrees in French literature (Université Paris-Sorbonne), journalism (ISCPA) and a MA in dance from Université Paris VIII. She is also the editor of CN D Magazine.