In April 2027, the Edgar Varèse Region­al Con­ser­vat­ory (CRD) will present a cho­reo­graph­ic and music­al pro­ject bring­ing togeth­er third-cycle dance stu­dents (clas­sic­al, jazz, and con­tem­por­ary) around an ori­gin­al cre­ation to be presen­ted on the main stage of the Salle des Fêtes in Gennevilliers.
For this cre­ation, cho­reo­graph­er Alban Richard will be invited to design a col­lect­ive work bring­ing togeth­er dan­cers and musi­cians in a cross-dis­cip­lin­ary and col­lab­or­at­ive cre­at­ive pro­cess. The music­al com­pon­ent will bring togeth­er the 2E2M ensemble, con­duc­ted by Leo Mar­gue, com­poser Marco Luparia, as well as the Con­ser­vat­ory’s per­cus­sion teach­ers (Middle East­ern, Afro-Cuban, and clas­sic­al per­cus­sion) and accom­pa­ny­ing per­cus­sion­ist musicians.
The pro­ject will be built on a dynam­ic of encounter and exchange between musi­cians and dan­cers from the very start of the 2026–2027 sea­son. Begin­ning in Septem­ber 2026, research and impro­visa­tion work­shops will be set up to foster a shared cre­at­ive pro­cess, nour­ished by listen­ing, move­ment, and col­lect­ive experimentation.
These ses­sions will take place under the artist­ic guid­ance of Alban Richard and Marco Luparia, who will over­see the cho­reo­graph­ic and music­al shap­ing of the pro­duc­tion as the cre­at­ive pro­cess unfolds and rehears­als evolve.
This artist­ic adven­ture will allow the stu­dents to exper­i­ence genu­ine con­tem­por­ary cre­at­ive work, groun­ded in dia­logue between dance and live music.

Be happy and carefree,
While sing­ers rejoice and dance,
To make you a fine feast day.
(Egyp­tian drink­ing song)

UPBEAT focuses on the encounter between musi­cians and dan­cers, on the weav­ing togeth­er of per­cus­sion prac­tices from dif­fer­ent tra­di­tions (tra­di­tion­al, clas­sic­al, pop-rock, jazz…), between dif­fer­ent dance prac­tices and tech­niques (clas­sic­al, con­tem­por­ary, jazz), and between pro­fes­sion­al artists and students.
Every­one must cre­ate togeth­er a single, uni­fied com­munity, gathered for a shared time of energy, emo­tion, rhythm, and sweat.
Start­ing from simple rhythmic and cho­reo­graph­ic motifs, this group of indi­vidu­als cre­ates a ritual.
Pro­ces­sion, fer­til­ity dance, funer­al rite, severe and meas­ured cere­mony, exal­ted dance of cel­eb­ra­tion, exor­cism, ecstat­ic or orgi­ast­ic dance — UPBEAT is cer­tainly all of this at once.
UPBEAT will above all be a visu­al and rhythmic trans­la­tion of joy, pleas­ure, and inner exaltation.