As there is no term to define the femininity of a man, the choreographer Thomas Lebrun went on a quest in Mexico of a gender unknown elsewhere: the Muxes. “Under the flowers” is a danced evocation of male femininity.

 

In the West, “the feminine man” often has to hide in front of a primary virility, which confuses masculinity and violence. In other cultures, some children are raised without gender from birth. Among the tolerant cultures, the Muxes, in the Zapotec culture, in Mexico, are raised from very early as girls. They can live their femininity and engage in activities, such as cooking, embroidery, hairdressing… For his new creation, the choreographer and director of the National Choreographic Center of Tours, Thomas Lebrun, chose to approach these beings - neither women nor transgender - with five dancers. Between realism and onirism, “Under the flowers” evokes femininity in men without drowning it, as often, in a relationship with sexuality. The artist thus invents a territory between male and female dances, appearances and transparencies, discreet colors from here and shimmering from there…