The first adolescent years, those when the body is just starting to act its own, are full of small and big decisions capable of influencing an entire life. This pivotal moment is superbly told in Génération Danse, presented on the stages of La Licorne.
The play written by American Clare Barron attracted widespread praise during its Off-Broadway presentation in 2018, to the point of being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in theater the following year. This enthusiastic welcome is largely justified. The playwright has succeeded in condensing in less than two hours of performance all the essence of adolescence, as it is experienced by 13-year-old American girls.
Génération Danse tells the daily life of a dance troupe made up of six girls and one boy, led by the intransigent and not at all pedagogue Pat le Prof (Sasha Samar).
However, only one performer will be able to take on the role of Gandhi. Only one will be chosen; the others will inevitably be disappointed. The sisterhood will be shaken. The situation will cause dissension in the team, in particular between the two best-friends-for-life Zuzu and Amina… Even the mothers (all played by Sally Sakho) will get involved.
In her notes to directors, Clare Barron made it clear that she wanted the teenage roles to be played by actresses (and one actor) aged between 20 and 60. Because after all, teenage girls do not form a monolithic block of skinny bodies and wheat-colored hair, as they are too often represented on stage or on screen!
By playing with codes in this way, the American has a touch of luminous flair, which visibly inspired Sophie Cadieux, director of the production presented at La Licorne. The latter called on performers of different ages and diverse origins to play these young dancers, from Mireille Métellus to Émilie Gilbert, including Dominique Pétin, Clara Prieur, Tova Roy and Pascale Renaud-Hébert. Thomas Derasp-Verge plays the only boy in the group.
All of them are excellent at making people forget their true age and revealing the young girl that still burns in their stomach. Because beyond the accuracy of the portrait represented here, Génération Danse reminds us with great acuity that the dramas of adolescence – including the smallest ones – mark us forever. For the public, the emotion is great to see the souls of adults in the making emerge in these young dancers for whom each disappointment takes on the appearance of the end of the world.
When directing, Sophie Cadieux chose to infuse the show, which passes at high speed, with a feverish, teeming, breathless energy.
The text magnificently translated by Maryse Warda interweaves savory lines with more moving passages… all in a raw language that accepts no compromise. Because it is not because they walk around with a mini-soft toy in their backpack that they do not talk about masturbation, that they do not imagine with a sigh their first sexual relationship, that they accept the injustices without showing off.
These girls discover life the way they discover their bodies: with eagerness and curiosity. And this joyful piece allows us to dive back with them into this adolescence that is both blessed and cursed.