“The Farewell Dance”
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Stéphane Voirin had upset the canvas by dancing on the forecourt of the church at the funeral of his wife Agnès Lassalle, brutally stabbed by one of his students two months ago.
He explains his choice to dance but also the minutes which precede the drama in the portrait of Audrey Crespo-Mara in the Sunday program "Seven to eight".
This morning of February 22 remains a heartbreaking memory for Stéphane Voirin.
“She was in a hurry because we're always a little busy with schedules and it's just a smack like that before leaving.
It is the last image that I have of Agnès [...] I did not even have time to appreciate this farewell
, entrusts the man, the trembling voice.
The 52-year-old teacher died in her classroom at the Saint-Thomas d'Aquin private high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, stabbed by one of her 16-year-old students.
At the same time, her husband does not suspect for a single second what has just happened.
"I already knew"
“I was at a mutual friend's house, he received a phone call from his wife who is a Spanish teacher. She wants my number but doesn't want to talk to me when I'm nearby. [...] I did not imagine a drama like that
, he explains to the journalist.
Several other phone calls follow one another asking him to go to the scene of the crime.
“When I saw the device...
You know there are lots of lights going on everywhere.
Ambulances that did not move.
Then a person came and said to me “it's Agnès, it's over” but I already knew what.
He will learn only later the circumstances of her death and will seek to know if she suffered.
Worry gave way to relief when he found out no.
It was during his wife's funeral that Stéphane Voirin decided to pay her a moving tribute, a gesture of goodbye, memory and love like no other.
“This dance is my way of saying goodbye to Agnès.
We got to know each other through a dance, so we had to end up with a dance”
, he explains then seized by emotion.
“Agnès was my accomplice, my companion, my friend, it was all at the same time.
I wanted to tell her
“I love you, goodbye”
.
For this ceremony I immediately wanted to do some dance steps with her.
I was with her, of course.
Read alsoWho was the stabbed teacher in Saint-Jean-de-Luz?
This dance has been seen millions of times and the reactions it has generated have greatly surprised Stéphane Voirin.
“At first I was very worried because for me social networks are rather a source of concern.
But when I read the reviews, which were overwhelmingly positive, I was thrilled.
People understood that it was respect, love.
[…] We have made something good, something positive out of a tragedy.”
It is thanks to the unconditional support of his relatives and the countless testimonies of strangers that the widower managed to thwart the traps of anger and hatred.
“I didn't think too much about this high school student, more about his parents.
I learned from reliable and sincere people that it
Only one feeling remains: incomprehension in the face of his extreme gesture.
