Patrice De Bénédetti is a long-time friend of Les Tombées de la Nuit and formerly toured with Compagnie Ex-Nihilo. He is returning for the first time since Solo pour un monument aux morts, which showed several times in Rennes, with a new dance solo, focusing on sport as a means of expression and upward social mobility. Starting in northern Marseille where he grew up, before travelling to the streets of Havana (Cuba) and the Soweto township (South Africa), he uses words and movements against a backdrop of scattered coke cans to map out the forgotten places of the world, placing stories from children, teenagers and young adults at the heart of his performance. You are here echoes the millions of voices longing to be heard.

Over the years, Patrice De Bénédetti has used music, dance, street theatre, directing and writing to develop a repertoire that has fed into his recent dance solos. He became an expert in the use of recorded voices with Jean, solo pour un monument aux morts (2014) and in the use of objects and autobiographical references, continuing this method with You are here, a new dance solo created for Les Tombées de la Nuit.

Starting with his own childhood in northern Marseille, he looks at sport as the most powerful means of upward social mobility in the world. The performance starts with two brothers seeking to break free of the confines of their neighbourhood to reach Sainte Marthe using football, before switching to baseball in Havana (Cuba) and boxing in Soweto (South Africa). Coke cans littering the floor break down the space in this light set design and the voices resonate with today’s tragic Mediterranean migrations.

In this hopeful song for the future, driven by sport, the voices of millions of children, teenagers and young adults echo the forgotten corners of the globe. You are here, whispers Patrice De Bénédetti, in this beautiful contemporary dance show.