dance

XXL

icône Facile à lire et à comprendre (FALC)

Sofiane Chalal - Cie Chabaane

Maubeuge

Creation

Stares, prejudice, pressure… it’s not easy to live in a body deemed “too much”. Sofiane Chalal experiences this harsh reality every day, yet turns it into strength, transforming stigma into art. In XXL, four performers described as overweight, drawn from hip-hop, popping and waacking and steeped in battle culture, create a dance of transformation—a dance of resistance in which “too much” sits alongside generosity and invites the contagion of laughter.

Chalal’s first solo work, Ma part d’ombre (2023) explored his relationship to weight in a playful and introspective way; his new creation XXL amplifies this gesture and extends its focus to the group. It becomes an opportunity to share, with other performers—like him children of the hip-hop galaxy and urban cultures—the remarkable dexterity of dancing bodies: at times weightless, as his choreographic language offers them a setting of power and precision, strength and lightness; as the constraints of their XXL bodies become a shared, vital creative energy.

To counter the personal suffering caused by discrimination, Chalal has chosen the restorative force of a unifying, collective and liberating dance—humour as breath, distance as solace. A serenity now shared, carried by a virtuoso dancer and hip-hop world runner-up, who has turned his difference into an asset and made his mark in film, theatre and television

Practical information

Duration: 1 h

Age: 9 and over

thu

jun

20:00

fri

jun

14:15

sat

jun

15:00

Where ?

Friche la Belle de Mai

Jobin Entrance: 41 Rue Jobin, 3^rd arrondissement

Simon Entrance: 12 Rue François-Simon, 3^rd arrondissement

Tel. 04 95 04 95 95

lafriche.org

• Metro – 1 Cinq-Avenues-Longchamp station (15' walk)

• Tram - 2 Longchamp station (10' walk)

• Bus - 49, 56 Belle-de-Mai-la-Friche

• Night bus - 582 Belle-de-Mai-la-Friche

• Bike - Friche Belle-de-Mai station, bike parking at La Friche

• Car park - Le Champ-de-Mai

Prices

Prices: € 5 / € 10

Ethical prices: € 15 / € 20

Book

Sofiane Chalal

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Note of intent

Credits

Choreographer: Sofiane Chalal

Dancers: Samantha Chaher, Sofiane Chalal, Missy NRC, Maëla Trollé

Dramaturg: Youness Anzane

Costume Designer: Shuqian Zhang

Lighting Designer: Adrien Hosdez

Sound Designer: Mathieu Calmelet

Stage Manager: Adrien Hosdez

Stage Supervisor: Maxime Berenguer

Assistant Choreographer: Moustapha Bellal

PRODUCTION: Compagnie CHAABANE

EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION: Manège Maubeuge - SUN Cross-Border National Theatre - International Centre for Production and Distribution in Hauts-de-France

CO-PRODUCTIONS: Scène nationale / Théâtre d’Orléans, Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, Le Phénix – Scène nationale Valenciennes Métropole – Pôle International de Production et de Diffusion, Centre Chorégraphique National Roubaix Hauts-de-France Sylvain Groud – as part of the studio residency programme / Ministry of Culture, Mars-Mons arts de la scène, Théâtre de Suresnes Jean Vilar, La Barcarolle, a state-subsidised dance and music venue in Saint-Omer, La rose des vents National Stage Lille Métropole - Villeneuve d’Ascq - International Production and Distribution Centre, Secteur 7 CCDC Danses Urbaines - Maubeuge, Théâtre de la Madeleine State-subsidised theatre in Troyes, Théâtre de l’Arsenal State-subsidised dance theatre - Val-de-Reuil, City of Lille – Flow.

With the support of: La Briqueterie CDCN du Val-de-Marne, Ultima vez, Wim Vandekeybus – Brussels, Pôle en Scènes/Centre chorégraphik Pôle Pik, La Gare Numérique de Jeumont, Compagnie La Baraka / La Chapelle – Abou Lagraa and Nawal Aït Benalla - Annonay, Espace Culturel Jean-Claude Casadesus - Louvroil, Danse élargie 2026.

With the support of: DRAC Hauts-de-France, the Hauts-de-France Region, the Maubeuge-Val de Sambre Urban Community and the City of Maubeuge

Sofiane Chalal receives support from SUN - Scènes Unies du Nord Pôle International de Production et de Diffusion

Photography: Monia Pavoni