The Ballets Suédois performed the premiere of La Création du monde in Paris in 1923. Combining the talents of Fernand Léger, Blaise Cendrars, Darius Milhaud and Jean Börlin, this “negro-cubist fantasy” conveys the influence of Harlem jazz and, a few years after the end of the war, draws on the energy of “primitive” arts to herald in a new world: a hint of escape in the midst of the Roaring Twenties… Faustin Linyekula has decided to restage this ballet which turns blindly its back on the brutal colonial reality of the era with its idyllic image of Africa. The Congolese choreographer confronts an eminently western language and the alienating rigidity of the “corps de ballet”.

With the support of Fluxum Foundation

Opéra national de Lorraine
31 May 31., June 1., 2. and 3. 2012

Amsterdam - Holland festival
June 13. and 14. 2012

Théatre de la Ville de Paris
June 20., 21., 22. and 23. juin 2012