Leïla Ka (France)
Činohra Slovenského národného divadla
Cena: 15 – 70 €
MALDONNE How many faces does femininity have? A dance about the strength to be yourself.
MALDONNE is a dance work for five female performers in which French choreographer Leïla Ka explores femininity through the relationship between the body and clothing. Forty different dresses appear on stage, ranging from wedding gowns and evening dresses to everyday clothes, concealing, constricting and provocatively revealing the bodies. Ka addresses fragility, defiance and the multiple identities that intersect within women’s experience.
The work is her first group choreography and was nominated for The Bloom Prize 2025 as part of The Rose International Dance Prize at Sadler’s Wells in London. Critics have praised its powerful message, rich symbolism and the authentic voice of a generation longing for freedom.
Praktické informácie
Ticket prices: Festival Donor Ticket, including a meet-and-greet with the artists after the performance: €70 / Standard ticket, Category I: €40 / Category II: €30 / Category III: €20 / Discounted ticket for students and seniors in Category III: €15
Venue: Činohra Slovenského národného divadla
Duratio: 55 minút
Performance:
Five dancers appear in forty different dresses, including evening dresses, wedding dresses, ball gowns, everyday dresses and lingerie. Sparkling, long, billowing, tight-fitting and oversized. Dresses that fly, shimmer, tear, spin, trail across the floor or fall.
In MALDONNE, Leïla Ka explores femininity through bodies struggling with dresses that dazzle, suffocate and rebel. MALDONNE is a highly evocative work exploring fragility, defiance and the different identities that together constitute femininity.
“Leïla Ka embodies a generation of young people who speak out, rebel and create a style beyond established codes.” Télérama
“An artistically and symbolically brilliant dance work.” La Terrasse
Choreography: Leïla Ka
Performed by: Océane Crouzier, Jade Logmo or Justine Agator, or Adèle Bonduelle, or Lise Messina, or Flore Ruiz-Moiret
Choreographic assistant: Jane Fournier Dumet
Lighting design: Laurent Fallot
Costumes: Leïla Ka
Lighting: Laurent Fallot or Clara Coll Bigot or Zacharie Bouganim
Sound design: Rodrig Desa or Sacha Menez-Allanic
Production: CENTQUATRE-PARIS and Cie Leïla Ka
Partners and support: La Garance – Scène nationale de Cavaillon, Théâtre Malakoff – Scène nationale, Théâtre d’Angoulême – Scène nationale, Théâtre de Suresnes Jean Vilar – festival Suresnes Cités Danse 2024, Centre Chorégraphique National d’Orléans – Direction Maud Le Pladec, Centre Chorégraphique National – Ballet de Lorraine direction Petter Jacobsson dans le cadre de l’Accueil-studio, Les Quinconces et L’Espal – Scène nationale du Mans, Espaces Pluriels – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national Art et création – Danse de Pau, La Manufacture – CDCN Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bordeaux/La Rochelle, La Passerelle – Scène nationale de Saint-Brieuc, Fondation Royaumont, Espace 1789 – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national Art et création pour la danse de Saint-Ouen – Le Quatrain – équipement culturel de Clisson Sèvre et Maine Agglo, Ville de Gouesnou – Centre Henri Queffélec Mécénat Caisse des Dépôts Aide à la résidence Fondation Royaumont / Fondation d’entreprise Hermès
Leïla Ka is an associate artist at La Garance – Scène nationale de Cavaillon, DSN – Dieppe Scène nationale and MC2: Maison de la Culture de Grenoble.
The company has been supported by the BNP Paribas Foundation since 2024.
LEÏLA KA
Leïla Ka has created choreography for Beyoncé, the César Awards ceremony, singer Zaho de Sagazan and the National Ballet of Chile. Drawing on her urban and contemporary influences, she has established a distinctive place for herself in the dance world within just a few years.
She entered the world of urban dance at the age of sixteen without having received any formal dance training. After auditioning for Maguy Marin, she became a dancer in Marin’s renowned work May B. She later began creating her own choreography.
Her first three works received international recognition and were presented in more than twenty countries. Her fourth work, Maldonne, won the Danse Élargie competition at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and was nominated for the International Dance Prize at Sadler’s Wells in London.
Today, she collaborates with national theatres in Cavaillon, Dieppe and Grenoble and is currently working on a new choreography that will premiere in autumn 2026.
MALDONNE is her first group work and was nominated for the International Bloom Prize at Sadler’s Wells.
Performance partner
