Great parade welcoming the Games in Seine-Saint-Denis: immense collective energy

Stade Jean Delbert, above Montreuil. Under a summer sun, this Saturday, June 8, a brass band strikes up its first notes. Behind her, a first group starts walking, performing a dance movement. At the center of the procession, Mahamoud and Samba, second year students from the Condorcet high school, advance with their fists raised in tribute to the American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos of the Mexico Olympics in 1964. They are still on foot and rehearsing with around fifty other comrades. On D-Day, June 23, there will be nearly 150 people from the Montreuil Public Theater (TPM) section to parade in the Grand Parade. Mahamoud and Samba will be among the five riders who will ride through their cohort, but on real mounts. They will then join the 1,500 participants expected for the Grand Parade.

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“It is therefore not a simple meeting of people 15 days before“

“For “We’re not going to shy away!”, we started working two years ago. Through this parade, we wanted to mark a long time, that of a presence of artists in Montreuil who created links with the inhabitants. It is therefore not a simple meeting of people 15 days before“, explains Pauline Bayle, the director of TPM. “We have fifteen or twenty projects like this every year. It is a daily reality of our structures. There, the result will be very visible because there will be these fireworks on June 23. But this is only the tip of the iceberg: this work of opening up the city, in places that are not dedicated to live performance, and, in the end on others, is part of our missions as a public theaterc,” she continues.

At the origin of the Great Parade, eight live performance venues in Seine-Saint-Denis joined forces in a collective called La Beauté du geste: the MC93 in Bobigny, the Center national de danse de Pantin, Houdremont and the Maison des juggling of La Courneuve, the Espace 1789 of Saint-Ouen, the Louis Aragon Theater of Tremblay-en-France and the three national drama centers of the department: the TPM, La Commune in Aubervilliers and the Gérard Philippe Theater of Saint-Denis.

“When Paris was designated to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, our eight structures had this somewhat crazy dream of creating something together that resembles us, putting youth at the center of attention. And then there was the Covid crisis. Daily work with young people and residentss then proved even more beneficial“, relates Julie Deliquet. For theater director Gérard Philipe, who took the project into motion in 2020, a year after its launch, “this XXL parade is indeed the opportunity to highlight all this know-how, to make visible the identity of our places and to pay tribute to all these structures which revolve around us: the educators, the teachers, the heads of establishment, associations, volunteers, care units…. But, it is the artists who form the link between the theater and the inhabitants and who give flesh to our public service mission.“, she points out.

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“The idea is to change the relationship between the spectator and the actor“

To produce its segment of the Grand Parade, the CDN (national drama center) of Montreuil chose the circus company La Fauve. Its director, Arthur Sidoroff, became known for his “Dream parades”, artistic residencies in public spaces. In this spirit, La Fauve set up for the first time at the Parc des Guilands in August 2022 and a second at the Prairie des Murs à peches in June 2023. “The idea is to change the relationship between the spectator and the actor. We settle in for at least two weeks. It’s a real camp, part of the team sleeps there. And then, we set off to meet the locals with our horses. We walk the streets. The horse plays an essential role because in the city, it triggers curiosity, the desire to touch. It suspends time. This encounter changes the relationship we can have with the animal. We also have a sound system. Music plays an important role. We invite people to participate in the camp, take care of the horses and ultimately do like us“, explains Arthur Sidoroff, in the middle of rehearsal at the Jean Delbert stadium.

It was during these “Dream parades” that certain young people like Mahamadou and Samba joined the project, thanks to the neighborhood association Lez’Arts dans les Murs. They were recently introduced to horse riding by Arthur Sidoroff who will entrust them with Johnny and Saxo for the parade. “We immediately got along with the horses, even if it’s not so easy to keep your balance“, comments Samba. “I’m not really interested in the Olympics. But, I am proud because we are going to wear the strong symbol black power“, he confides. Sitting a few meters away, Fatouma, Nawan and Djalil take a cool break, in the shade, on the stadium stands. “We met lots of people. We’re a little apprehensive about the public, but it’s going to be great“, comments the first. All three are in dance option at the Charles de Gaulle high school in Rosny-sous-Bois. “For the students, it is a great experience. When TPM proposed the project to us, our students immediately joined. They are very proud to represent their city and Seine-Saint-Denis“, observes Léna, teacher at the Jean Jaurès college, two 4th grade classes of which are taking part in the Great Parade. “As a PE teacher, I also find it very beneficial because they work on a dance choreography. This is another approach to the relationship with the body which is not so common. It is also learning responsibility because it is a collective project“, she continues.

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“There is a very emancipatory virtue in finding your place in a collective“

“The collective dimension is fundamental in the live performance and its creation“, considers Pauline Bayle. “I am convinced that it is essential to share it because it transmits the values ​​of listening, of respect for others, of doing things together. There is a very emancipating virtue in finding your place in a collective and experiencing this thrill when you take the plunge because even if you are not a professional, you always want a show be great. This call of light is very joyful to share“, she adds. In the TPM group, there are also “individuals” like Sandile, 24 years old or Anne, 63 years old, who explains precisely having joined the troop “to participate in a collective work“. “The TPM involves residents, schools, neighborhood centers, social centers and cultural associations, students from the Montreuil conservatory who form the brass band, but also from the National School of Circus Arts of Rosny-sous- Drink“, explains Antonin Delom, project coordinator at TPM. There are even students from La Source high school in Nogent-sur-Marne, which offers training in arts, entertainment and textile design professions. They are also the ones who made the brightly colored costumes, flocked with a star, the symbol of the circus, from clothing and textiles recovered in particular from the Neptune solidarity resource center.

“We never see so many young people getting in tune“

At the Gérard Philippe Theater, the project was also thought of locally, “made in Saint-Denis“, emphasizes Julie Deliquet. In all, it will send 250 participants to the Grande Parade, including six classes from the Elsa Triolet, Garcia Lorca and Pierre de Geyter colleges, students from the fashion sector of the Frédéric Bartholdi professional high school and the city conservatory.

“The first time I saw all these teenagers rehearsing in a school playground, I was moved to tears to see this ensemble find a common silence and come to life after a week of school“, remarks Julie Deliquet. “We have never seen so many young people getting in tune to try a common gesture. This represents hours and hours of work with all the demands that this entails. You have to imagine the performance that this represents with the seven other groups who will parade on June 23. We asked ourselves the question of a designer who would come and sign the last artistic gesture that would bring them all together. We gave it up because we agreed that we had to let our differences be expressed and that fraternity, sorority and, ultimately, solidarity are the values ​​most representative of this project and the identity of the 93. In a way, it is also a philosophy that underpins the Olympic Games. This Great Parade is an unprecedented project on a national scale. And there is no doubt that there will be an after because the project has taken too long a root to disappear after the Games..”