Vanasay Khamphommala and Collectif XY Celebrate Body and Voice at Avignon Festival

At the Festival d'Avignon, artist Vanasay Khamphommala and the Collectif XY present performances centered on voice and the body, exposing human fragility. Khamphommala, a queer French artist born in Rennes in 1980, offers two works: 'Songs of Grief [Love Me Tender]', a preparation for her father's death who requested Elvis Presley's song, and 'Je te chante une chanson toute nue en échange d'un verre', where she sings naked to a small audience, a concept born during COVID. The Collectif XY, founded twenty years ago, performs 'Le Pas du Monde', their sixth creation, featuring 22 acrobats and singers from Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Europe. This is the first circus show in the Cour d'Honneur of the Festival d'Avignon. The piece, influenced by contemporary dance, creates landscapes of human pyramids on a 600m2 stage, exploring metamorphoses of life and time. Additionally, in the OFF section, Fanny Imbert reviews 'Hchouma blues' by Hicham Boutahar, about police violence, running at Théâtre des Carmes from July 4 to 25.