Saison Sèche is like a flower that never ceases to open up. The more I think about it, the more I see the different ways to interpret Phia Ménard’s exhilarating dance show and this is precisely the beauty of it.
The show is presented by Phia Ménard in person, at the beginning of the performance, in a single sentence: “Je te claque la chatte”, which irrevocably is reminiscent of US President Donald Trump’s “Grab em by the pussy”.
Openly inspired by Jean Rouch’s Les Maîtres fous, Saison sèche creates the same apocalyptic violence and extreme discomfort as the 36-minute-long trance of the Haoukas.
Seven women appear simultaneously on stage. Together they call in the demons of patriarchy. As the ceiling threatens to crush them dead, moving up and down, the women struggle to get up in a small white confined room.
Together they will stand. Together they will march. Together they will make their voices heard. The crescendoing rhythm is exquisite, thrilling and together with the music, sounds and screams, very cinematographic.
The intensity doubles in between the acts as the room goes dark and frightening storm-like noise fills the room. What is next? This question, thrown towards the stage, circles back.
The small white confined room, becomes bigger and bigger, and splashed in color before being completely symbolically demolished by the performers before they exit the stage for the first and only time. The audience is left alone facing the wrecked decor, to let the active violence and oppression of the intense 90-minute-long show sink in.