The "Joyous Cacophony" project continues with a traveling exhibition

The "Images" project

Vincent Noclin, a student at the Université Lumière Lyon 2 and a group of volunteers have been following the “Joyous Cacophony” band from Lyon’s Dance Biennale for nearly a year, going backstage, attending practice sessions and their many creative workshops. Together, they compiled a traveling exhibition documenting 12 months of preparation for the event with photography, videos, texts, costumes and sets that will show you glimpses of behind-the-scenes action for the 2018 parade for Peace.

Meet the University parade: "Joyous Cacophony"

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the First World War, which is also the year when Black American soldiers introduced jazz to their allies in France. The "men of bronze", as they were nicknamed at the time, were brass bands who not only played military marches, but traditional blues and jazz music. They revived and liberated life in France and shared these popular new dances from the Black American community.

Since then, funk and hip hop rhythms have joined its repertoire. It is a vibrant and electric style where music and dance create energy, transcend ethnicity and social origin and transform this language of the street into a new resistance strategy in a joyous cacophony.

This eclectic style matches the career of Fred Bendongué, choreographer for the university group and founder of the “Joyous Cacophony” project. He began his career in hip hop, but very quickly moved beyond the confines of the genre to train with some of the greatest in classical dance, and it was there that he made his mark, at the crossroads of artistic influences.