In dance, as in other arts, it also occurs. Surely less frequently than in music or cinema; or maybe the same, but less visible. The fact is that from time to time, a choreography or an artist achieves that “must see” label, prescribed by international billboards and by visits and likes on social networks.
There are powerful moments in Maldonne (misunderstanding). Like the one that corresponds to the beginning of the work. Five dancers in a line, facing the audience, with overhead lighting from five spotlights, repeat a very simple gesture with arms, trunk and head, supported only by their breathing (hectic, revealing anguish and desperation). Then what works is small, repetitive and trusting in the sum of both.
It also uses evidence of those scenic resources designed to please, and which please, if it weren’t for the fact that their seams are too visible. In Maldonnethe formula involves using recognized and overwhelming music, which rather than justifying the scene, predisposes you to its dazzle. In this sense you hear the fabulous theme Dance me to the end of loveof , or the Winter by , music that closes the show on a high note with that dark suddenness that announces the end and draws the most fervent applause. A theatrical interpretation of the well-known French song from the seventies I’m sickremember that wonderful scene in the film The law of desire, of, with the Don’t leave me as a choreographic and existential basis.
The dance references, at the level of movement and even aesthetics, are also very recognizable. There is that gesture, individual and group, of the work May B (1981) by Maguy Marin, a choreographer with whom Leïla Ka has worked. The aesthetics of and even specific steps of the Phase (1982) by the Belgian choreographer (that turn with the right arm extended).
Leïla Ka, who has also choreographed for and was in charge of the movement of the 50th ceremony of the French Cinema Awards last year, has received the choreographic revelation award from the Syndicate of Critics in France and has been nominated for the Bloom Prize 2025, a new award given by the Sadler’s Wells theater in London to emerging choreographers with less than ten years of experience. In Maldonne The creator points towards an interesting direction, but one that requires concentration and depth. Maybe I can acquire it with more experience and scenic thinking.
