15 young people aged 16 to 22 committed to a project that began in January 1998, with a programme structured around contemporary art. These first meetings supplied initial answers to the questions that these young people were asking: why are these artists interested in us? Of what use will contemporary dance, the plastic arts and architecture be to us? How will this benefit us?

The work carried out in these first few months was to open doors, allow them to discover contemporary art through exhibitions, visits to buildings, dance performances, workshops… In the words of Djamel Boumaaz, the coordinator: “…These new elements enabled young people to see something other than their hip hop culture or the walls of their neighbourhood, another universe, a universe that for them was “inaccessible”, a universe they call “high society”, and yet these young people are extremely interested in this movement, in this new world that they are unaccustomed to…” 

The meetings continued through to July. Some young people gave up along the way. The last workshop took place in the Studio Bagouet of the choreographic centre (CCN). It was during these periods of work that the actual material of the film was elaborated, namely an exploration of their vocabulary, words and language, an imaginary world reconstructed from words.

26 letters.

Among them, one letter has been lost. Who is it addressed to? Where does it come from? The enigma of a letter from a foreign country, for a foreign destination. 25 image words, question words, story words, short and collected words or long gestures.

Tell your story through a letter. Tell the word.

25 short stories parade, interweave, overlap, are danced, are replayed, through this ABC show. 

The aim is to claim a letter, to appropriate it, that of its last name, its first name, its world.

Mathilde Monnier occupies a place of reference in the landscape of  French and international contemporary dance. From piece to piece, she  thwarts expectations by presenting work in constant renewal.

Her  appointment as head of the Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon  Choreographic Center in 1994 marked the beginning of a series of  collaborations with personalities from various artistic fields (Jean-Luc  Nancy, Katerine, Christine Angot, La Ribot, Heiner Goebbels.. .).

She  created more than 50 choreographic pieces presented on major  international stages like the Avignon Festival, the Théâtre de la Ville  in Paris, passing through New York, Vienna, Berlin, London and receiving  several prizes for her work (Ministry of Culture prize, SACD Grand  Prize).

After directing the CND National Dance Center in Paris,  Mathilde Monnier resumed her creative work in 2019 with several pieces  like Please Please Please (2019) which she created in collaboration with  La Ribot & Tiago Rodiguez, Records (2021) and her latest, Black  Lights (2023).

Since 2020, Mathilde Monnier and her company have residing at the Halle Tropisme in Montpellier.

Source and more information: https://www.mathildemonnier.com/en/