Alvin Ailey dancers come to Paris
In this edition of Entre Nous, we talk to Yannick Lebrun who is about to take centre stage in Paris with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The Frenchman is coming back to Paris after seven years, and he tells us all about the new show.
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00:00Some culture news for you now, and the renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre is coming back to Paris next week for the first time in seven years.
00:09From October 18th to October 26th, the troupe will be performing at the Palais de Congrès here in the French capital.
00:15The company was first founded in 1958 to present Ailey's vision of honoring Black culture through dance.
00:22Since then, most of the members of the troupe have come from the United States, but there is one French dancer.
00:27That's star member Yannick Lebrun, who joins me now live from New York.
00:31Yannick, hello. Thank you so much for joining us.
00:34Hi. Thank you for having me.
00:36So, Yannick, you have been dazzling audiences around the world as a member of Alvin Ailey for some time now.
00:42How does it feel to be coming here to France to perform?
00:47It feels amazing because we are so excited to be back in Paris after seven years of absence.
00:54And here we are, the days are approaching, and we're so excited to feel the energy of the Paris audience who loves the company.
01:04And also here, you're going to be performing some world premieres of some new pieces.
01:09How does that feel as a dancer to be performing something for the first time, especially for you being French here in France?
01:15Yeah, it's such an exciting moment for us to bring some new ballets in the company, in Paris.
01:24Just like the ballet Century, created by, choreographed by Amy Hall, Garner, the ballet Me, Myself and You by Elisabeth Rojas,
01:37Following the Subtle Current, Upstream, Dancing Spirit.
01:41So, so many different ballets that we're bringing.
01:44And of course, our masterpiece Revelations, choreographed by Alvin Ailey.
01:49So we cannot wait to see the audience responding to those ballets.
01:54Absolutely. And of course, when Alvin Ailey created his company so many years ago, part of his goal was to showcase African-American dancers.
02:02How much is his vision of honoring black culture through dance still prevalent today with the company?
02:08It is very prevalent today in the company because our mission is to definitely keep the legacy alive.
02:18I forgot to mention earlier that we're also bringing back a ballet called Survivors that was restaged two years ago.
02:29After many, many years of not seeing this piece, it was a piece that was celebrating the legacy and the lives of Nelson Mandela.
02:38But also being able to bring back some new choreographers, some new voices, African-American choreographers to give them their voice as well for the company.
02:51So, yes, we are still keeping the legacy and it's still prevalent today.
02:55And you mentioned Survivors, Yannick, in which you really have a starring role.
02:59We have a clip of that we're going to take a look at and we'll come back and talk to you in just a moment.
03:03OK.
03:25That clip from Survivors, one of the pieces being performed here in Paris by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater starting next week with Yannick Lebrun, who's with me, still joining me from New York.
03:44Yannick, you've been part of the Alvin Ailey family now for 20 years.
03:47Let's go back to the beginning of your dance career.
03:50You left your home in French Guiana when you were just about 18 years old to study at that school on a scholarship.
03:55What do you remember about that time?
03:57How big a culture shock was that for you?
03:59It was such a big shock, a big shock moment for me because you grew up in the Amazon.
04:07You grew up in South America with your family, with everyone who who saw you dance.
04:14And then all of a sudden you have to make that big change and follow your dreams.
04:18I truly believe that New York was the place for me and I really wanted to have a career in dance in New York.
04:26So moving from French Guiana to New York was scary, but it was a beautiful challenge.
04:34And I worked really hard from being in a school to then join Ailey to the junior company and then joined the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater officially in 2008.
04:46So I'm very I'm very happy that I made this that I took this big leap of faith.
04:52And so and so are we and all of the audience members who go to see you perform.
04:56Of course, you've had such an incredible career since then.
04:58You were even named one of the 50 most talented French people in the United States.
05:03Do you feel like you bring aspects of your Frenchness to your work today, to the troupe today as a dancer?
05:09Are all the cultural differences erased when you're on stage?
05:13Yeah, I I always make sure that I bring my my experience and my upbringing, my roots growing up in French Guiana.
05:26It's something that's never going to leave me and it's always something that's going to be part of my artistry.
05:32What's beautiful is that Mr. Ailey created this company to celebrate the African-American experience.
05:40But it was definitely a company that was opening doors for many people around the world, different dancers, different backgrounds, origins, race, cultural backgrounds.
05:52So it's really a blessing to be a part of this company that has a universal message.
05:58And you've performed for some really big names over the years, people like Beyonce, Barack Obama.
06:04What's that like? Does that change your performance or did you get a chance to talk to to either of them or any other high profile audience members?
06:12Yeah, it's it's it's so incredible to get a chance to to to hear that they're in the audience and to get a chance to to meet with them afterwards.
06:23It's really incredible because they're also as passionate and they also love art and they love Alvin Ailey.
06:32So the respect is mutual. So, yeah, we do get a chance to to speak to them.
06:38And sometimes it feels surreal.
06:42I bet it certainly does. And from what I understand, didn't Beyonce watch you from the wings at one point?
06:48Yes. So I remember in 2017 in Los Angeles, she came and so she arrived, I think, a little bit after the show has started.
06:59So she sat by by the wing stage, right.
07:04So she was next to the dancers and I'm on stage and I'm looking over and I'm like, wow, that's Beyonce and Blue, her daughter.
07:14Yeah, just staring at us and admiring us.
07:17And it was just a major, big moment in my career. Like I couldn't believe it.
07:21I can't I can't I can't even imagine.
07:23Did you ever have times when you have a show you have to go on, but but you're just not feeling it?
07:28And if so, how do you snap yourself out of that?
07:31Yeah, I it doesn't matter how you feel.
07:34Our job is definitely to to express ourselves and to deliver, tell the story.
07:43So it doesn't matter how you feel before a performance.
07:47You must tell the story and you have to do your best.
07:51So I warm up, I take class, I take some time for myself to go over the movement to focus because it takes extreme focus to do the level of performance that we do every night.
08:08We perform so much in the US, in New York, but also around the world.
08:12And to sustain that for now, 17 years, it's it's pretty intense.
08:18So I also take a lot of time for myself to concentrate before each performance.
08:23Just a quick question before you go, Yannick, you have been dancing for so long, for so much of your life.
08:27How do you see the future at this point? How long do you want to perform on stage?
08:31I'm going to give myself a couple more years.
08:34I think that as long as my body can do it and as long as I can physically do it and stay in shape and give myself to the world, I will keep dancing.
08:47All right, Yannick, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us.
08:50We're so looking forward to seeing you and all the Alvin Ailey American dancers performing at the Palais de Congrès here in Paris.
08:56That's from October 18th to the 26th.
08:58Thank you so much.
08:59Thank you very much.
09:00And don't forget, you can check out all of our entrenue segments on the France 24 website, france24.com.