Who is this rare man, to whom Nadia Beugré dedicates the setting of a piece premiered in 2020 at Montpellier Danse? He eludes categories and asserts the singularity, mysteries and ambiguities of each individual. He sketches out an answer to the question: what defines and distinguishes the male body? On stage, five dancers play with their nudity: almost always from the back, they deploy a vocabulary linked to the suppleness of the pelvis and the undulating hips, derived from the research Nadia Beugré has been carrying out for several years on certain urban dances, notably in Brazil. The choreographer leaves them free to embrace the unexpected, to dance all the dances, sometimes united, sometimes left to their own devices. With gentleness and boldness, she pursues her research into identity and gender, but not only: L?homme rare also raises questions about the vulnerability of naked bodies, public expectations and the Western view of black bodies that have been commodified for centuries. By showing them from the back, she hides them from view, playing with the temptation of voyeurism in favor of the wavering of the obvious, the gentle trembling of questioning and interrogation.
