Coeurs Croisés

An uncontrolled music hall which dedicates itself to the pleasant task of striptease with wit and humour

- Patrick Sourd, Les Inrockuptibles

Humour, a passionate choreographic language, the use of surprising materials and a liking for audiovisual settings, define the artistic career of Philippe Decouflé (whose awards include France's Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters and the French Ministry of Culture's Grand Prix). With Coeurs Croisés (premiered in July 2007 at the Paris Quartier d'Été festival), Decouflé unfurls a burlesque fantasy somewhere between circus, dance, theatre and striptease. The actors strip off, laugh, dance and sing, thereby breaking all the rules to generate desire, happiness and guiltless pleasure. Close to the comic and acrobatic possibilities offered by the Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton and Mae West, Coeurs Croisés recalls the indomitable nudity of Josephine Baker and the eroticism of the dancers from the golden age of American music hall, like Lilly St Cyr and Rose la Rose.

While everyone strips off (because to strip off is a form of disguise) the original music of Cyril Lefebvre and Joseph Racaille clothes the work in languor and exoticism together with the neon lights of Pigalle and the carnal exuberance of the bodies in their natural state. It's a long way from the separation of body and spirit - here everything becomes a pretext for getting rid of your clothes. Coeurs Croisés premiered in July 2007.

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