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Monday 21, SEP    /    8:00PM    /     Teatro Ateneo, Ciudad del Saber


Zimarèl

Founded by choreographer Léo Lérus, Zimarèl is a contemporary dance company based in Guadeloupe whose work explores the intersections between Caribbean identity and contemporary creation.

The company develops choreographic projects deeply connected to territory, language, music, and collective memory, creating works that resonate both locally and internationally. Through dance, Zimarèl seeks to amplify Caribbean narratives and foster dialogue between tradition and contemporary artistic practices.

Léo Lérus trained internationally before returning to Guadeloupe to develop an artistic practice rooted in the realities and imaginaries of the Caribbean. His creations have been presented in festivals and venues across Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, and Latin America.

Zimarèl’s work is characterized by rhythmic complexity, emotional intensity, and a strong physical relationship to landscape, ancestry, and community.

GOUNOUJ

GOUNOUJ emerges from the cultural memory, landscapes, and rhythms of Guadeloupe, weaving together contemporary dance and Caribbean traditions in a vibrant choreographic language rooted in identity, resilience, and collective memory.

The title refers to a Creole expression connected to turbulence, spirals, and states of transformation. Through fluid physicality, grounded movement, and rhythmic intensity, the performers navigate tensions between inheritance and reinvention, individual desire and collective belonging.

Léo Lérus draws from the textures of Caribbean life—its dances, oral traditions, rituals, music, and social dynamics—while placing them in dialogue with contemporary choreographic research. The result is a work that feels both ancestral and radically present.

The piece unfolds through shifting emotional states where celebration, exhaustion, resistance, and joy coexist. Bodies move as if carried by invisible currents, constantly negotiating balance, instability, and connection.

In GOUNOUJ, dance becomes a living archive: a space where memory is transmitted through gesture and where the body carries traces of history, migration, survival, and cultural transformation.


Tech Rider

Country
France / Guadaloupe
ChoreographyLéo Lérus in collaboration with the dancers

Dancers
Robert Cornejo, Arnaud Bacharach, Andréa Moufounda, Johana Maledon
Choreographic Assitant
Asha Thomas

Musical Concept
Léo Lérus
Musical Composition & Interactive Sound Design
Denis Guivarc'h, Gilbert Nouno, Arnaud Bacharach
Recorded Percussionist
Arnaud Dolmen
Lighting Design & Technical Manager
Chloé Bouju
Costumes
Bénédicte Blaison
Production
Compagnie Zimarèl / Léo Lérus
Co-Production
VIADANSE - Centro Coreográfico Nacional de Borgoña Franco Condado en Belfort / La Spinning, Escena Nacional de Mulhouse / CCN - Ballet de l’Opéra national du Rhin / POLE-SUD Estrasburgo / CNDC Angers / L’Artchipel, escena nacional de Guadalupe / THREE-CL Luxemburgo / Récif Device - Ballet Karukera.

With the collaboration ofMoka Production
DistributionLa Magnanerie

Compagnie Zimarèl / Léo Lérus is subsidised by the Department of Cultural Affairs of Guadeloupe, Region and Department of Guadeloupe . Léo Lérus is an associate artist of Chaillot – Théâtre national de la Danse. With the support to the Fund for artistic and cultural exchanges (FEAC), ADAMI and Caisse des dépôts, main sponsor.