2025 Camping Asia: Room With A View

Ballet national de Marseille

In 1972, the Mayor of Marseille, Gaston Deferre, suggested to choreographer Roland Petit that he move his company to Marseille. Petit accepted and created the Ballets de Marseille, rooting it in the modern choreographic style of the 1970s and 80s.  

In 1981, the company became the Ballet national de Marseille (BNM), and 11 years later invested in a site designed by architect Roland Simounet. The BNM then became the National Choreographic Centre in 1984, under the direction of Roland Petit. He was succeeded by Marie-Claude Pietragalla (1998-2004), Frédéric Flamand (2004-2014), and Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten (2015-2019). Each director has developed new artistic dynamics and increased awareness of the center.

The collective (LA)HORDE took over direction of the BNM in 2019. 
For (LA)HORDE, the BNM is a safe space, focused on youth and young artists, for exploring new ways of representation and sharing of artistic forms. In their transdisciplinary creations, they question what ballet is in the digital age and consider the political concerns that mark our time: diversity, inclusivity, and openness of institutional and cultural sites to bodies and practices that still do not have enough visibility.

(LA)HORDE

In 2013, choreographers and visual artists Marine Brutti, Jonathan Debrouwer, and Arthur Harel formed this collective, which took on the direction of the Ballet national de Marseille (BNM) in 2019.

Through films and performances (Novaciéries, 2015; The Master’s Tools, 2017; Cultes, 2019; Ghosts, 2021), as well as choreographic pieces (Night Owl, 2016; To Da Bone, 2017; Marry Me in Bassiani, 2019; Room With A View, 2020), (LA)HORDE interrogates the political component of dance, while mapping diverse choreographic forms of popular uprising, transitioning from raves to traditional dances and jumpstyle. Their exploration of the new dynamics of circulation and representation of dance and body that have developed online led them to explore the concept of “post-internet dances”. 

Created with artist Rone in 2020, Room With A View was their first choreographic piece with the BNM. In 2022, they presented Roommates, a program of six short pieces connecting hyperrealism and minimalism by Lucinda Childs, Claude Brumachon, Benjamin Lamarche, Peeping Tom, Cecilia Bengolea, and François Chaignaud, as well as a large-scale dance exhibition, entitled We Should Have Never Walked on the Moon, in which musicals and live-action films were mixed with avant-garde choreography. 

RONE

Erwan Castex aka RONE is a key figure in the French electronic music scene. His live performance at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2017 earned him the Prix des Indés. This was followed by Variations, a reinterpretation of works by composer Benjamin Britten, accompanied by Maîtrise de Radio France and its choir director Sofi Jeannin.

RONE then presented Motion, a 12-minute electro-classical piece, with the orchestra Les Siècles conducted by François-Xavier Roth.
His music has become associated with environmental advocacy as Hugo Picard aka The Sailing Frenchman has used his tracks to communicate with whales and dolphins and Greta Thunberg has featured them in one of her videos.

In 2020, the collaborative work Room With A View premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet, followed by the release of his fifth album. His next album, Rone & Friends, was released in 2021 and featured collaborations with Jehnny Beth, Dominique A, Flavien Berger, Yael Naim, Camelia Jordana, and Georgia and Alain Damasio.

RONE composed the soundtrack for the 2020 feature film La Nuit venue by Frédéric Farrucci and won the César award for best original music in 2021. He also composed the soundtrack for the film Les Olympiades by Jacques Audiard.