Eric Minh Cuong Castaing
Eric Minh Cuong Castaing comes from the field of visual arts: he graduated from the Ecole de l’Image des Gobelins (Paris), and worked for several years as a graphic designer for animated films. He is interested in real-time choreography and discovered hip hop in 1997, then Butō dance with master performers Carlotta Ikeda and Gyohei Zaitsu. He discovered contemporary dance with the German artist and choreographer VA Wölfl.
As part of Shonen, he combines dance, new technologies (humanoid robots, drones, augmented reality) and the body in situ in socius: since its establishment in 2011, Shonen has created twelve pieces - performances, films and installations.
His work tours France and internationally (CND Paris, Centquatre Paris, MAC Créteil, tanzhaus nrw Dusseldorf, Tanzquartier Vienna...), receives support from ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (Drac Paca, CNC-Dicréam…), and has received several awards (Audi talents 2017, Brouillon d’un rêve arts numériques Scam, bourse Créateur numérique Lagardère, bourse chorégraphique SACD–Beaumarchais, Premier prix de l’Audace artistique et culturelle fondation Culture & Diversité).
Formerly an associate artist at the Ballet National de Marseille, he is now an associate artist at the Comédie de Valence, at Points communs - Nouvelle scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise et du Val d'Oise and at ICK Amsterdam, Montpellier Danse (2024-2026), then from 2025 at Centre National de la Création Adaptée - C.N.C.A. and at Bourges Capitale Européenne de la culture (2028).
Rayess Bek
Born in Lebanon in 1979, composer Rayess Bek – real name Wael Koudaih – holds a professional master’s degree in applied arts from ALBA (the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts), a postgraduate diploma in interactive art from ENSAD (École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris) and a master’s degree in art and new media from Paris 8 University.
From 2000 to 2012, under the pseudonym Rayess Bek, he became an emblematic figure in the world of urban music in the Arab world. From 2012 onwards, he turned to more performance-oriented forms, in particular with the narrative concert Good Bye Schlondorff(Centre Pompidou, Festival Banlieues Bleues, HKW - Haus der Kulturen der Welt - Berlin). His visual concert Love and Revenge toured 24 countries. In 2018, he invited Syrian producers and the video maker Joan Baz to work on DABAKA, a performance combining music and video focusing on dabkeh dance. In 2019, in collaboration avec Randa Mirza, he created the performance piece Strange Land, combining early Arab audio recordings with early photographs. His career has included numerous collaborations, for example with Rodolphe Burger, the dancer Nancy Naous and the stage director Myriam Marzouki.
