Traces of Gounouj

This spe­cial site-spe­cif­ic per­for­mance brings togeth­er dancers Asha Thomas and Robert Corne­jo in an inti­mate duet that offers a sen­si­tive lec­ture on com­mu­ni­ca­tion across gen­er­a­tions. By plac­ing these two artists at dis­tinct, con­trast­ing moments in their lives and careers, the chore­og­ra­phy becomes a liv­ing con­ver­sa­tion where matu­ri­ty and youth meet. Their phys­i­cal dia­logue nav­i­gates the deep-seat­ed dif­fi­cul­ties of find­ing bal­ance, let­ting the human rela­tion­ship play out direct­ly with­in the envi­ron­ment around them.

While this duet is drawn from excerpts of Gounouj In Situ, it stands as a win­dow into the core themes of Léo Lérus’ broad­er chore­o­graph­ic work. His prac­tice fre­quent­ly draws inspi­ra­tion from the Gwo­ka tra­di­tion and the lush nat­ur­al beau­ty of his native Guade­loupe, explor­ing the island’s nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al abil­i­ty to adapt to change. Through his move­ment research, Lérus explores envi­ron­ments in a del­i­cate nat­ur­al bal­ance and exam­ines how that equi­lib­ri­um is altered by con­tem­po­rary input.

By weav­ing these ideas into the duet, the per­for­mance reflects the com­plex mix of feel­ings around envi­ron­men­tal preser­va­tion — using the move­ment of two dif­fer­ent gen­er­a­tions to jux­ta­pose dis­ap­point­ment and anger with an endur­ing hope and a shared move­ment toward a pos­i­tive future.This site-spe­cif­ic adap­ta­tion was imag­ined dur­ing Lérus’ Vil­la Alber­tine res­i­den­cy in New York City in July 2026.

This event is free and open to the pub­lic; rec­om­mend­ed for ages 10 and up. RSVP is encouraged.

Trained at the Con­ser­va­toire Nation­al Supérieur de Paris (CNS­MDP), Guade­lou­pean chore­o­g­ra­ph­er Léo Lérus spent his ear­ly career per­form­ing inter­na­tion­al­ly with pre­mier com­pa­nies includ­ing Bat­she­va Dance Com­pa­ny, Wayne McGre­gor Dance Com­pa­ny, and Sahron Eyal Dance Com­pa­ny. In 2010, he began cre­at­ing his own work, even­tu­al­ly anchor­ing his artis­tic research in his Caribbean her­itage by blend­ing con­tem­po­rary dance with the tra­di­tion­al spir­it of Gwo­ka. His notable cre­ations include Entropie, Gounouj In Situ, Gounouj, and Ici, cre­at­ed for the Bal­let de l’Opéra nation­al du Rhin in France. A recip­i­ent of the 2026 Vil­la Alber­tine res­i­den­cy in New York, Lérus is an asso­ciate artist at Chail­lot – Théâtre nation­al de la Danse start­ing in the 2026/2027 season.

Chore­og­ra­phy: Léo Lérus in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the dancers

Musi­cal com­po­si­tion and inter­ac­tive sound design: Denis Guiv­ar­c’h, Gilbert Nouno, Arnaud Bacharach

Record­ed per­cus­sion­ist: Arnaud Dolmen

Pro­duc­tion: Com­pag­nie Zimarèl / Léo Lérus

Copro­duc­tion: VIADANSE — Nation­al Chore­o­graph­ic Cen­ter of Bour­gogne Franche-Comté in Belfort / La Fila­ture, Nation­al Scene of Mul­house / CCN — Bal­let de l’Opéra nation­al du Rhin / POLE-SUD Stras­bourg / CNDC