Dance + City

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Un Peu de Nous

Les Étoiles, Ivry-Sur-Seine, France

4 min

Available until 10/03/2026

Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, France and Ukraine: Across five European countries, Dance plus City builds a bridge between contemporary dance and architecture. A unique way of looking at the interaction between the fluidity of the body and physical structures which, despite their omnipresence, are too often ignored in everyday life. This episode invites you to discover the Les Étoiles architectural complex in Ivry-sur-Seine.

The sharp angles and bare concrete of the residential complex designed by Jean Renaudie and Renée Gailhoustet in the 1970s rise above the rooftops of the Parisian banlieue like spikes of stars. "Les Étoiles" in Ivry-sur-Seine is an enigmatic and potentially unsettling feature in the urban landscape.

The avant-garde complex consists of 40 social housing units, offices and shops arranged on different levels in a kind of pyramid structure, with the compositional theme of the triangle and the green elements characterising the strategy of softening the presence of cold concrete to mix nature and architectural structure: open volumes, innovative spaces, dynamic access routes give the complex a labyrinthine feel

Against this urban backdrop, the movements of the protagonists merge seamlessly with the geometric shapes and communal areas, reflecting the complexity of human relationships in the midst of modernist structures. Choreographer and dancer Dovydas Strimaitis was inspired by the idea that something remains after us and also that the principle of design is still captivating today. "Even when relationships break down - on some level we remain connected, even when socialism breaks down - something remains."

Filmed in June 2024 at Les Étoiles in Ivry-Sur-Seine, France.

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