[Specimen and other pata-, para-, supra- and meta-physical phenomena to dance the end of the Cold War…] / creation 2006

Choreography Sébastien Lefrançois

Since their first work was produced in 1997, the Company Trafic de Styles has oscillated between hip-hop and circus, and their shows plunge the audience into a poetic world full of humour.
"Spécimen…", based on a text by Nathalie Fillion inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall, deals with the momentous events and human frailty in an unconventional farce.
This energetic show for six dancers depicts a world where “all is possible”, where the cards of laws and codes are constantly being re-dealt.

“Ladies and gentlemen, a motley crew of entertainers will present this evening, for the first and maybe the one-and-only time, the show ‘Specimen and other pata-, para-, supra- and meta- physical phenomena to dance the end of the Cold War…'!” The show's compere, orator and idiosyncratic dancer is the boss, constantly overwhelmed by the unruly troupe. Each member shows him- or herself to be an unpredictable ham playing a character – the “specimen” – with an excess of sincerity, zeal and enthusiasm, heedless of the order established by the head of the troupe. As a result, “dancing the end of the Cold War” appears to be – as the title suggests – a grotesque exercise.

Updating: April 2010

Born on July 21st 1969 in Harfleur, he came to dance and movement through the figure skating that he began at the age of 6 and which he practised at an advanced level between the ages of 12 and 24. His encounter with hip-hop coincided with Sidney's regular television programmes on French channel TF1 in 1984.

Some years later, he discovered theatrical and choreographic creation and obtained two State Diplomas in jazz dance and contemporary dance in the early 1990s.

In 1994 he founded the Trafic de Styles company with dancers from Cergy-Pontoise, and became its artistic director. In 2007 Olivier Meyer, director of the Théâtre Jean Vilar (Vitry-sur-Seine), appointed him as an associated artist with Cités Danse Connexions, the main structure for the production, dissemination and teaching of hip-hop dance in France.

Sébastien Lefrançois has also collaborated as a performer in “Tana-Cergy” (1998), a Franco-Malagasy hip-hop dance theatre show, directed by Vincent Colin and Elie Rajaonarison, Jean Cocteau's “Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel”, a Franco-Namibian choreography directed by Vincent Colin, and Alexis de Toqueville's “La Démocratie en Amérique”, also directed by Vincent Colin (2003).
    He has collaborated on the choreography of Amos Tutuola's "The Palm-Wine Drinkard”, directed by Philippe Adrien (2002), “Fenêtres Secrètes”, a dance theatre creation with the Yun Chane company (2004), “Le Garçon aux Sabots”, directed by Luc Laporte (2007), and “Ma Vie, Mon Œuvre, Mon Pédalo” directed by François Berdeaux (2007).

In 2008 Trafic de Styles began a three-year residency at the Espace Germinal de Fosses (Val-d'Oise).

Updating: November 2010

Since 2001, the National Center for Dance (CND) has been making recordings of its shows and educational programming and has created resources from these filmed performances (interviews, danced conferences, meetings with artists, demonstrations, major lessons, symposia specialized, thematic arrangements, etc.).