Creation in Cultural Mediation: How the Assemblé Program Works

Charlotte Imbault

Local projects involving residents are increasingly becoming part of theater programming, as exemplified by the Assemblé initiative launched by the CN D between 2021 and 2025. With the release of Double voix, a podcast exploring what is at stake in this program, its director, Charlotte Imbault, explores the links between creation and mediation.

For several years now, artistic projects known as “local” or related to “artistic and cultural education” have been developed, encouraging choreographers not only to work with, but also to create with and for, school children, hospital patients, incarcerated people, or groups of residents specifically formed for the occasion by those responsible for mediation within host institutions.

These projects vary in frequency and scope. It should be noted, however, that their quality depends greatly on the duration and intensity of the activities: sustained engagement is needed to achieve their objectives—namely to create links between the cultural institution and its local community, and to raise awareness about art and creativity through a collective project.

These projects often take the form of a series of workshops culminating in a final presentation, usually in front of an audience. This presentation—which may even have the status of a work of art—is not usually part of the venue’s official program, and therefore not listed alongside the professional performances. At best, it appears in the program devoted to cultural activities or amateur performances. 

This reluctance can be explained by the very nature of these collective creations with local residents: inherently unpredictable and fragile, since they are developed with participants who are often new to dance and within a limited time frame. At the start of the project, no one can anticipate the quality of their performance or how the participants will come across to the audience.

Things have changed somewhat in recent years, with several organizations—such as Les Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis (RCI), MC93 in Bobigny, and TU (Théâtre Universitaire) in Nantes—leading the way. More recently, La Maison Danse in Lyon and the Centre national de la danse have included these strange, atypical, and uncertain creations in their programming alongside professional works, granting them equal visibility.

Since 2021, the CN D has been experimenting with a new program called “Assemblé” with residents of nearby towns (Bobigny, Cergy, Les Lilas, Pantin, and Romainville) and in collaboration with several organizations, including the RCI. “Assemblé” produces choreographic pieces showcased during 1 km de danse, the CN D’s annual event in Pantin, alongside professional works.

“The idea was to highlight choreographic heritage and its diversity, considering that everyone is a vehicle for dance,” explains Fanny Delmas, head of the CN D’s Artistic and Cultural Education Department. “We wanted to reach out to residents to present this heritage. Often, we meet people who say, ‘I don’t know, I’m not sure.’ They think they don’t know anything, even though they do have choreographic knowledge. How can we help them recognise this knowledge within themselves, to strengthen their awareness of their abilities?”

The Assemblé project, structured over several stages throughout the season (meetings, and sessions for research, creating, and sharing), raises another question that has become increasingly central in recent years: How can we create collectively? The guest artist, the mediator, and the group of local residents must find common ground for creation. This represents a major innovation in this type of project, as the resulting piece is usually credited solely to the artist “creating with such-and-such community.” “Collective creation is a framework and a utopia, and each artist-mediator duo has found its own ways to implement it,” says Delmas. 

This project also sheds light on the relationship between artist and mediator, which is far from being relegated to organizational tasks. Double Voix bears witness to this, featuring the words of three of the eight pairs who have participated since 2021: Rémy Héritier with Delmas, Marcela Santander Corvalán with Anaïs Garcia, and Magda Kachouche with Léa Sabran. They reflect on the methodologies they implemented during Assemblé and address issues related to working in pairs—such as organizing workdays and the notion of authorship—while reflecting on the role of mediation in creation.

Is creation inseparable from mediation? Can we create without mediation—if we define mediation as a link, a connection, or an opportunity to orchestrate encounters between people? For Santander Corvalán, “Projects like Assemblé are political tools. For a long time, artists involved in mediation were said to be less artistic. I think today we recognize the need to carry out projects that are a little broader than simply choreographing pieces.” Perhaps it is time to make these projects more visible so that dance continues to remain at the heart of the world.

Charlotte Imbault is an artist and art critic whose work unfolds between writing and spoken word. She creates situations in which people who have never met come together—through sound editing, interviews, the creation of a journal, programming, exhibitions, conferences, or workshops. She was associate editor of Mouvement and co-founded the journal watt in 2017, conceived as an open-air studio. In 2018, she launched the podcast What You See.

Podcast Double Voix
Charlotte Imbault
More information 

Assemblé project
More information

Mediation training 2025-2026
Proposed by CN D
at La Briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne, Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Palais de Tokyo, Maison du Geste et de l'Image, Atelier de Paris / CDCN
More information 

Sur les bords 9 s’édite avec watt
January 17 2026
at T2G - Théâtre de Gennevilliers