Performance title and premiere dates
A new performance titled Joie, created and performed by Jonas Chéreau, Catherine Hershey, and Emma Tricard, premiered from 21 to 23 October 2026 at Ménagerie de Verre as part of the Festival Les Inaccoutumés. Themes and style of the show
The show is described as an exploration of laughter as a transformative force, seeking to evoke collective joy and resistance through physicality, burlesque, and cabaret. According to the review, Joie opens with a welcoming "bienvenue" that invites the audience into a shared experience, transitioning into a concert of laughter that evokes medieval grotesque faces and split-smile masks of theater. Structure and movement
The performance includes elements of commedia dell'arte stripped of narrative, focusing instead on the physicality of laughter and its effects on the body. The show is structured as a journey through several movements, akin to the variations of a musical score, incorporating stage legacies reimagined in the present. Tonal shifts and content
The preface borrows language and voice from personal development coaching and science-fictional atmospheres, but the performance quickly shifts into a more abstract and modulated exploration of physical combinations. The review notes a sequence of danced euphoria where the performers undulate from the pleasure of shaking their hips, accompanied by explicit sexual postures and moans of pleasure, all framed within a playful and non-serious context. Key performers and musical elements
Emma Tricard, described as having an elastic face and devastating presence, confronts the audience with questions about joy, leading to a reinterpretation of Ravel's Boléro in a gospel choir, with Catherine Hershey's voice standing out. The performance closes with a reinterpretation of the well-known melody « If you're happy and you know it, clap your hand », set against a fairground decoration with tiger-colored stripes. Support and future dates
The show is supported by Marcos Simões in artistic and costume design, Christophe Albertijn for music, and Valérie Castan for direction. It received support from the Ministry of Culture and various coproduction partners including Centre chorégraphique national de Caen en Normandie, La Maison danse CDCN Uzès Gard Occitanie, and others. The performance lasts 50 minutes and was also scheduled to run from 3 to 4 February 2027 at La Raffinerie in Charleroi.
