Au revoir zébu

Presented in French and Malagasy. Madagascar, July 22, 2018, death of my paternal grandmother. That day, I was at the back of a costume workshop, both hands working on a new glitter dress, and I made a promise to offer her my next dance... Au revoir zébu is a solo about grief created in two parts. The first part was created around a dress that I worked on alone for a year, creating my own mourning, my own funeral ritual. This solo was born from a desire to accompany my grandmother towards death, then towards the world of ancestors by creating a dance inspired by the rituals of Madagascar, the country of my ancestors. The second part was created around a dress on which I worked for a year with the help of more than a hundred people with whom I shared a space of creation and discussion around our grieves and our goodbyes. This second dress is a collective one and carries the dreams and farewells of those I have met along the way. It also carries the strength and power of shared healing journeys. Au revoir zébu is the expression of my personal quest to better live and understand my mourning, a long process that started 4 years ago.