Lament

What do an age-old tradition and a mosh pit have in common? This dance and music performance explores the practice of lament and brings it out of the realm of folklore. In Lament, voice and body become powerful vessels for grief and celebration. After more than a century in which rural cultures have been politically instrumentalised, this performance breathes new life into the sung lament as a fundamental social ritual.

Armed with historical archival material and raw hardcore punk samples, the makers search for ways to make grief public and collective again. The result is a pulsating symbiosis in which traditional Breton gwerz meets the subversive cry of punk. Both forms carry counter-narratives that keep alive the memory of injustices and marginalised lives that official history has chosen to leave unheard.

Lament offers an inspiring truth: pain does not have to be silent. It can transform into a political act and a shared, life-affirming celebration.

Tilhenn Klapper is a French-American visual artist and performer. She graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris and Sciences Po Paris, where she completed a master’s thesis on ecofeminist practices in 2018. She is currently pursuing a practice-based PhD at SACRe (ENS/Beaux-Arts de Paris).

In 2021, Tilhenn Klapper received the DanceWeb Grant (Austria), and in 2026 she was awarded the MAIF Metamorphosis Prize for ecological art, together with her collective crème soleil.

She has presented her work at venues including MUDAM (Luxembourg), Théâtre National de Chaillot (Paris), Kanal Centre Pompidou (Brussels) and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Pantin), among others.

In 2025, she was selected for the In Situ residency programme on ecological transition, organised by the Carasso Foundation at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. In spring 2026, she participated with POUSH in group exhibitions at Les Magasins Généraux, the Cité Internationale des Arts and the Cimetière parisien de Pantin.

credits

Concept & Choreography Tilhenn Klapper Performance Tilhenn Klapper, Lucie Vaugeois Music in collaboration with Stefanos Floras, Mitya Vlasik Costume Lola Besrest Dramaturgy Nathaniel Moore. Light design Dgiorgia Chaix Outside eye Julien Sirjacq, Anais Barras Graphic advice Lia Pradal Production manager Clémentine Dubost Production crème soleil Co-production Beaux-Arts de Paris (SACRe), Playground (STUK arts center & M - Museum, Leuven) Support and residencies ADAGP, Cité Internationale des Arts, Ménagerie de Verre, kunstencentrum BUDA, La Briqueterie CDCN, Le Pacifique CDCN, Festival d’Avignon (Café des Idées), Centre Wallonie Bruxelles (PERFORMISSIMA), Centre National de la Danse, Tropez