Eric Minh Cuong Castaing / Shōnen
Eric Minh Cuong Castaing et sa compagnie sont aujourd’hui associés à Montpellier Danse 2024-2026, au Centre National de la Création Adaptée de Morlaix - C.N.C.A. 2025-2028, aux Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers 2025-2026, à Bourges Capitale Européenne de la culture 2028, et en compagnonnage avec la Comédie de Genève et la Collection Lambert à Avignon. Diffusés en France et en Europe, ses travaux chorégraphiques explorent les modes relationnels, les représentations et la perception des corps contemporains, floutant les binarités réel/fiction, nature/culture, organique/artificiel. Il met ainsi en relation les corps et la danse envisagés dans leur pluralité (danseu.r.se.s professionnel.le.s, en situation de handicap physique ou social) et les technologies (robots de téléprésence, drones…) dans des process de création “in socius”, liés à des réalités sociétales en partenariat avec des institutions en dehors du champs de l’art (laboratoire de recherche, ONG, hôpital…). Il collabore avec Marine Relinger (dramaturge), Aloun Marchal (co-chorégraphe), Anne-Sophie Turion (Metteuse en scène), Gaétan Brun Picard (pédagogie), Victor Zébo (Chef opérateur vidéo). Le travail de la compagnie est diffusé en France et à l’international (Villa Kujoyama, Modu Theater à Séoul, Charleroi Danse, Comédie de Genève, Centre Pompidou, Festival de Marseille, Viernulvier – BE -, Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre de la Ville, Comédie de Valence, Actoral, Festival parallèle...), soutenu par le ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (Drac Paca, CNC, Mondes Nouveaux...), et par plusieurs fondations et mécènes (Fondation de France, Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso, Caisse des dépôts et consignations, Fonds de dotation Francis Kurkdjian, Fonds de dotation Entreprendre pour aider...)
#gofundme : emergency fundraising > link here
Mumen Khalifa is the lead dancer in the choreographic piece Phoenix, created in 2018 by the French company Shonen in association with artists in Gaza. Mumen is our collaborator and very dear friend.
On March 24, Mumen was seriously injured by gunfire while helping patients and healthcare teams to evacuate the Al Amal hospital targeted by the armed forces (as an employee of the Palestine Red Crescent Society). Mumen underwent an emergency operation in Gaza which has already saved his life. But multiple bullet fragments are still moving through his body, weakened by months of war, threatening his vital organs and keeping him at risk of serious complications. Before the 2007 Gaza blockade, Mumen was a professional dabkeh dancer, and toured the world. Since then, he has been a very loved dance and arts teacher for many children suffering from post-traumatic disorders or disabilities in Gaza. Mumen wanted to discover the diversity of contemporary dances, to collaborate with other Gaza and international artists, and discover the therapeutic dimension of art. He wanted to do it from Gaza, where the emergency has long been declared and the need is very high.
Today, Mumen is suffering, and he must be treated outside Gaza. He categorically refuses to leave without his wife and two young children. Because leaving Gaza without them means the risk of never seeing them again. For Mumen to be able to leave Gaza to have surgery without being separated from his family, we need to raise the amount required for a family to pass, i.e. two adults and two children. Numerous press articles are available on the Internet which retrace these exit routes, consisting of charging exorbitant prices to Gazans to cross – legally – the border.
With the greatest seriousness in the face of the indecency of the situation, due to our friend's life-threatening injuries, we are launching the fundraiser for Mumen, a dancer and art-teacher from Gaza. Any contribution above the requested amount will go to the families of the other gazans collaborators of the Phoenix play, all in situations of deprivation and extreme risk.
Eric Minh Cuong Castaing (artistic director) & Marine Relinger (dramaturge)