“Bringing the opera back to the city, what a challenge”, says Clémence Varone, lyrical singer and music therapist, before going on the stage installed in the priority district of the Esplanade du siècle des Lumières in Alfortville (Val -de-Marne) this Tuesday afternoon.
Around, the decor is a bit special.
Large towers and buildings overlook the park.
In front of her, dozens of children and parents are sitting on yellow and orange deckchairs and patiently awaiting “the Tuesday meeting”.
The agitation of the crowd stops abruptly as soon as the first vocalizations of the artist in front of the amazed eyes of the little ones.
From the beginning of July until Wednesday August 24, “Les Rendez-vous du parc” organized by the company La Relève Bariolée offers shows and artistic workshops five days a week at the foot of towers in working-class neighborhoods.
An operation supported by the Val-de-Marne prefecture with the “Summer Quarters” system, the Regional Department of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) and partner donors.
“I started from the observation that a big artistic proposal was offered to a category of people but not within the districts, book Nebil Daghsen, the artistic director of the company.
So for six years, we have been taking artists to the feet of buildings”.
“This is the first time that a cultural event has taken place in the district”
Sitting on a stool, 50-year-old Samia came down with her three grandchildren.
Since the beginning of the summer, she has already participated in three Tuesdays.
Because the artistic offer is varied ranging from adaptations of plays by Molière to African music, passing like that day by opera and a performance of the violin mixed with electro.
“I have lived here since 1996 and this is the first time that a cultural event has taken place in the neighborhood,” she confesses.
Her smile and her dimples testify to the joy brought by such an initiative.
Looking towards Nebil, she adds: “He really sets the mood and creates moments of conviviality with the inhabitants”.
In spite of the rain, the inhabitants settle down at the bottom of the deckchairs to enjoy the second performance of the Russian violinist, Elena Gorbunova.
LP/CharlotteThïede
The few drops of rain do not stop the opera arias of Antonio Cesti and Quia Respexit sung by the artist.
"Behind the desire to discover this elitist discipline, we tend to make it accessible", explains Clémence Varone.
Often unknown to the public, the conservatory competition is accessible "to all of you", she informs future artists.
Two Alfortvillaises are lying on the deckchair and are listening to opera for the first time.
Yet music is not unknown to them.
"I do tuba and my friend, singing," one of them says lip service before the start of the second show.
To awaken youth to different cultural arts
As the weather takes another turn, a few volunteers organize themselves to quickly move the tents.
“This is the first time this has happened to us since the beginning of summer, in some cultures rain announces happiness.
We are going to the end of the process”, positive the artistic director.
Not enough to scare the inhabitants of the district, some who came by bike from the north of Alfortville like Hichem, accompanied by her 4-year-old daughter Héla.
“I saw the program, I didn't want to miss it.
This allows the children to awaken and diversify their experience”, enthuses this father.
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The tight tents, the Russian violinist Elena Gorbunova can begin her performance to the rhythm of electronic music.
“I feel like it's Noah's Ark.
We are ready to embark,” whispers the artistic director.
"That's also the Rendez-vous du parc, the professional integration of young people who have been helping since the morning so that the show takes place", continues Nebil.
Like Mélina, 14, who carries a wooden plank on her back.
"What's crazy is that before I came to see the shows in the Juilliottes district of Maisons-Alfort and now I find myself in the organization", says the one who has been at the conservatory for 8 years.
“Getting off the beaten track” is the objective achieved for the association.
For this sixth year, the artistic director once again puts on the front of the stage, "this invisible public who does not go to the theater or the leisure center".
"We remember all the same that at the start, the plays of Molière or Shakespeare were played in the markets", he quips.
An experience that it is possible to (re)live until Wednesday August 24 in certain districts of Val-de-Marne.
From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
This Thursday, August 18 in the Kennedy district, in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges.
Monday 22 at La Haie Griselle, in Boissy-Saint-Léger, Tuesday 23 at the Chantereine district of Alfortville and Wednesday 24, Liberté district at Maisons-Alfort.
