(LA)HORDE's 'Après moi, le déluge' at Romaeuropa Festival: A Post-Apocalyptic Dance Spectacle

At the Teatro Argentina in Rome, the Ballet national de Marseille performed 'Après moi, le déluge,' a new creation by the collective (LA)HORDE, as part of the Romaeuropa Festival. The piece runs until October 4. Twelve dancers inhabit a stage that fractures and tilts, with a floor that opens and sinks, while smoke fills the space and a crater becomes a fountain. The choreography shifts constantly between individual gestures and collective mass, as the performers run, fall, rise, and support each other, forming a single body. The scenography by Julien Peissel, in collaboration with (LA)HORDE, actively transforms the performance conditions, integrating water, smoke, and lighting to create a cinematic environment. Video footage shot by the dancers themselves shifts the viewpoint, turning the audience into part of the image and creating a reciprocal surveillance. The original music by Pierre Aviat builds tension, while System of a Down's 'Chop Suey!' injects a generational, almost cathartic energy. The work evokes the biblical Deluge, referencing Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel fresco, David LaChapelle's pop imagery, and Bill Viola's video art. (LA)HORDE, founded in 2013 by Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer, and Arthur Harel, has directed the Ballet national de Marseille since 2019. The performance transforms the stage into a landscape of a post-catastrophe world, making the catastrophe physically present for the viewer.