Black Lights, an inverted light

A contemporary dance ballet expressing the violence inflicted on women

By Sophie Jama

November 8, 2025

There are seven on stage, surrounded by imposing burnt wood stumps, smoking and fragrant. The flames are gone, but their imprint, their black memory, remains. One by one, each takes the floor. Voices mingle, sometimes dissonant, painfully human. They tell—or whisper—the singular story of a woman. Dramatic. Ironic. Tragic. Sometimes, it’s almost funny because of how unbearable it is.

Nothing is spared, yet everything is held with a form of physical modesty, an obstinate dignity.

The performance is born from already burning material: the TV series H24, launched on Arte in 2021 as a cry. Black Lights continues its vibration. The title itself, a splendid oxymoron, illuminates an inverted light—the light cast on the unspeakable—the lost distance between men and women, between desire and power.

Here, Mathilde Monnier chooses documentary dance, a body of voices capable of transcribing collective memory. Everything is addressed: the stupid remarks once thought harmless, the poisoned compliment, public humiliation, predation, naked brutality, murder, violence at work, domestic violence, and everyday violence. Nothing is spared, yet everything is held with a form of physical modesty, an obstinate dignity.

The music by Olivier Renou and Nicolas Houssin weaves an almost cinematic thread. Each story opens a door onto dance, like a breath one can no longer hold. Bodies deform, fold to the ground, rise again. You feel the weight of imbalance, the dull fatigue wrought by waiting, refusal, fear, doubt. These women waver like shadows in the wind, fall, then rise again. Their bodies breathe revolt, their breath becomes a silent cry.

‘Black Lights is not a condemnation; it is a reminder. A necessary stripping bare. A promise of clarity.’

Sometimes they seem to look at themselves from the outside—as if the awareness of their own vulnerability paralyzes them. One can read in their gestures this suspended moment: should they scream, remain silent, or laugh despite themselves? There is no answer. The body speaks for them. The dance intensifies. Men whistle, gestures fly, boundaries blur. The music becomes a heartbeat. They walk fast. They turn. They lose control. Anger pulses in every muscle. A trance sets in and infects everything.

BLACK LIGHTS I Mathilde Monnier I Agora de la danse I Saison automne 2025

Beyond this anger, a glimmer persists: the belief in the possibility of exchanges, respect, and tenderness. Black Lights is not a condemnation; it is a reminder. A necessary stripping bare. A promise of clarity.

Cast

Choreography: Mathilde Monnier
Music: Olivier Renou, Nicolas Houssin
Scenography: Annie Tolleter with Martine André and Paul Dubois workshop
Dramaturgy: Stéphane Bouquet
Lighting and technical direction: Emmanuel Fornes

Performers

Mathilde Monnier
Aïda Ben Hassine
Carolina Passos Sousa
Jone San Martin Astigarraga
Ophélie Segala, Sophia Seiss
Elithia Rabenjamina

Featured image: courtesy of Agora de Danse.

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Sophie Jama holds a PhD in anthropology and a master’s degree in comparative literature. She has published several works in Québec and France. For the past 15 years, she has covered Montreal’s cultural scene, including theatre, dance, circus, and other performing arts.