A chance encounter between people who share a vision starts everything. The band Molecule and the dancer-choreographer Sylvain Groud with threedancers, mix their paintbrushes for an exceptional concert-performance under the sign of dub. Over six months their work method was like an unique laboratory : each to himself and yet together. Molecule sent music samples that Sylvain Groud immediately reacted to «like a guinea pig in a drug trial». Momentum, pullback, race, the sound injection is the perfect «stimulant» to generate sensations, dance. From one email to the next, the score was refined by the tune of their chiseled and strangely intimate conversation, surfing on Molecule's tweakings and reaching it's choreographic target. To wrap up what Sylvain Groud calls the «exhilarating rumpus of the organs» that Molecule's atmospheric flows provide him with, they rehearsed side by side, imbued with the emergency of a single fantastic feat. And one single wish: to make the audience feel all the good vibes that this dub gives the performers. Even if it means being submerged by the audience in a collective dance. Molecule and Sylvain Groud made the bet of an absolute meeting of the minds.

A graduate of the CNSMD in Paris, Sylvain Groud began his career working with Gigi Caciuleanu and then Angelin Preljocaj. Winner of the Concours International de Paris with his first choreography, he has continued his creative work around two main axes: site-specific pieces and the relationship between music and dance. With his company MAD, he created over 30 pieces between 1994 and 2018.

That same year, he was appointed director of Ballet du Nord, CCN Roubaix Hauts-de-France, and created the participatory show Let's Move! and the duet Dans mes bras. In 2019, he created Métamorphose and Adolescent, his first collaboration with Françoise Pétrovitch.

In 2020, in response to the health crisis, he created the play 4m² at the Grand Bleu in Lille. It was subsequently presented in theatres with the Scène Nationale label and at dance festivals, as well as in non-dedicated venues such as schools, nursing homes and shops.

Since 2020, he has been working regularly with video artist Léonard Barbier-Hourdin to create choreographic films. Rooted in the Hauts-de-France region, most of these projects involve local people: Symbiose, réveil sur le terril (with 80 amateurs), Huis Clos (carte blanche offered by the Louvre-Lens museum), Bouge ton Bassin (for the 10th anniversary of the inclusion of the mining basin in UNESCO's World Heritage list), and more.

In autumn 2021, he will create two choreographic duets: L'autre and Lorsque l'enfant était enfant. His next creation, Des chimères dans la tête, is scheduled for autumn 2023.

Source and more information: https://www.balletdunord.fr/