Performance °Up by Le Phare – National Choreographic Center of Le Havre, Normandy

With °Up, Fouad Boussouf proudly showcases his love for unlikely yet fruitful encounters. By bringing together Paul Molina, a freestyle soccer prodigy, and Gabriel Majou, an exceptionally talented violinist and composer, he continues the aesthetic and ethical quest that defines his work: the art of bridging worlds and fostering dialogue between languages once thought to be foreign to one another.  

The sound of a bouncing soccer ball is echoed here by the pizzicato of a dancing violin, and Paul Molina’s juggling acts find a perfect extension in Gabriel Majou’s closing reggaeton. A duet thus emerges before our eyes as the show unfolds. For Fouad Boussouf, it’s even a matter of orchestrating the birth of a new two-headed musical instrument. In this regard, the structure of the piece is highly symbolic: starting from their respective solitudes, the artists seek each other out, lending one another their ball or their violin…  

And then, ultimately, everyone finds their place by passing the ball back and forth—that is, in the truest sense, by learning to play “together.” In fact, they shared a predestined commonality: the art of playing with their feet—one with a soccer ball, the other with his pedalboard. And when it comes to virtuosity, they complement each other very naturally: dance is in Gabriel Majou’s DNA—Fouad Boussouf had already worked with him on the creation of *Vïa* for the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. And Paul Molina has a deep sense of music—in fact, the choreographer treats the sound of his percussion ball like a basso continuo that sets the tone for his entire piece. We are, of course, charmed by the freshness of this duo, which never ceases to expand the realm of possibilities. But above all, we are captivated by the almost metaphysical experience that runs through the performance: that of attention focused on the other, and of listening taken to its extreme. You have to see the intensity with which Gabriel Majou stares at the ball, as if it were a living being. And with what concentration Paul Molina follows the violin’s melody, as if it were as essential to him as his ball. In short, hearing, touch, and sight come together here in a circle, and we know how much Fouad Boussouf loves this motif, as evidenced in particular by his previous show, *Fêu*, where a group of dancers set the stage ablaze in a circular choreography that races toward infinity. Following a show featuring nine women, here is a male duo—and the same obsession remains: to reveal what binds us together, under the banner of beauty.

Title: °Up
Company: Le Phare – National Choreographic Center of Le Havre, Normandy / Artistic Director: Fouad Boussouf
Premiere: 2025

Artistic Director and Choreographer: Fouad Boussouf
Performers: Gabriel Majou and Paul Molina
Music: Gabriel Majou
Lighting: Romain Perrillat-Collomb
Costumes: Salina Dumay
Stage Manager on Tour: Romain Perrillat-Collomb or Yaël Vallée
Production: Le Phare - National Choreographic Center of Le Havre Normandy / directed by Fouad Boussouf
Co-production: Equinoxe, National Theater of Châteauroux; Mission Danse of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
Residency Support: Magny-les-Hameaux Cultural Services, Institut Français du Maroc, Théâtre Riad Sultan (Tangier, Morocco)
Le Phare – CCN du Havre Normandie is funded by the Ministry of Culture / DRAC Normandy, the Normandy Region, the Seine-Maritime Department, and the City of Le Havre.

Instagram Le Phare - CCN Le Havre Normandy

Fouad Boussouf - Choreographer

Fouad Boussouf describes dance as momentum and movement. This definition also characterizes his own journey, shaped by an ever-alert curiosity and a constant desire to escape. His early years in Morocco, spent in an isolated village in the Moulay Idriss region, left an indelible mark on his imagination through family celebrations and a natural environment of monastic simplicity. At the age of seven, when his family moved to Romilly-sur-Seine, near

In Troyes, he discovered a whole new world, and school taught him its culture and customs. As a teenager, he was introduced to hip-hop, learning to the sound of Prince and Michael Jackson cassettes. What began as simply a socially accepted way to get physical exercise soon became, for him, a path to genuine personal growth, where pushing his physical limits also earned him the recognition of his peers. Between 2020 and 2022, Fouad Boussouf served as an associate artist at the Maison de la danse in Lyon, at Équinoxe—Scène nationale de Châteauroux, and at the Maison de la musique in Nanterre. Unanimously selected to lead Le Phare—the National Choreographic Center of Le Havre-Normandy—effective January 1, 2022, he was awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres that same year.

Paul Molina (aka Pablito) - Freestyle soccer player

A young athlete who dreams of becoming an artist. Like many young people, he started out on soccer fields before gradually, but surely, drifting toward what would become his passion: freestyle soccer. This art of juggling blends multiple artistic, athletic, and acrobatic disciplines, using only a soccer ball as his tool. Obsessed with this new pursuit, he eagerly explores the endless possibilities opened up by this art form, which he now seeks to bring into the world of entertainment. A graduate of a prestigious business school, he decides to step away from that world and take the risk of throwing himself heart and soul into this new artistic adventure, armed with his soccer ball, with which he strives to champion the discipline so dear to him. It was a discipline he had to view in a new light—through the eyes of an “artist”—to break free from the competitive framework in which a “drop” (that is, the moment the ball hits the ground after a missed move) is synonymous with the ultimate, intolerable failure. He had to rethink this notion of failure in order to describe a sport where the success of a move is possible only by tirelessly repeating the same motion and hearing the echo of that ball hitting the ground, over and over again. Paul Molina takes the risk of seeing that ball fall by leaving the Équinoxe plaza—the place where his training began and has continued for the past four years—to share his passion from a different angle: that of art. Paul brings together the dazzling moments and frozen frames of freestyle soccer in two performances: a sensitive solo dance piece choreographed by Mélodie Joinville, *Portrait dansé*, and another directed by Wilmer Marquez, *Mouton noir*, in which circus and theater blend with freestyle to tell the story of his wild passion.

Gabriel Majou - Musician & Composer

A French composer born in 1992, Gabriel Majou applies his sense of musical storytelling to film and the stage. A graduate of the Paris Conservatory in violin and composition, he studied jazz at IMEP and under Didier Lockwood. He then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston (USA), where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Film Music and Orchestral Conducting. In 2017, he received the Georges Delerue Foundation’s “ Award ” for composition. In the United States, he spent three years as an assistant to Christopher Tin and served as associate producer on the symphonic album *To Shiver the Sky* (Decca Gold, 2020), recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He also composes for the United Nations Chamber Orchestra and was invited by Melody Gardot to perform violin on her album *Sunset in the Blue* (Decca Records, 2020). In 2021, upon his return to Europe, he composed *Le Spectre de la Rose* in response to a commission from the United Nations Chamber Orchestra—a piece for voice, strings, and piano performed on International Francophonie Day. In 2022, at the request of the City of Roubaix and the Roubaix Wind Orchestra, he premiered *Variation autour du Mépris* during a tribute concert to Georges Delerue on December 16. Gabriel Majou also collaborates regularly with several dance companies, including, in 2023, the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève for the musical score of Fouad Boussouf’s ballet *Vïa*, and the Cie Tiss N’Ko, for which he composed the score for the *Concerto for Two Dancers* in January 2024. He is also the musical director of the Bakannal project (Parade, Ball, and stage production) led by Cie Difé Kako, which explores the theme of Creole, French, and Venetian carnivals.