I remember when I was a child, in the peaceful darkness of my room, I would lose myself in the twists and turns of my imagination.
Each night, when the lights went out, the motionless tapestry on the wall would come to life, revealing a hidden world—a portal to the unknown. As if by magic, my room would transform into the stage of an enchanting journey, where reality and imagination blended in a mesmerizing whisper.
Through my dreams, I escaped to fantastic lands, mingling with enigmatic creatures, dancing with graceful fairies, and exploring magical forests. Each pattern on the tapestry opened a door to a fairy-tale world—an irresistible call to adventure. The nighttime hours became suspended moments, fleeting memories captured by the embrace of dreams.
Various monsters marked the rhythm of a dreamlike ballet, setting the tempo for this dance between reality and illusion. The boundary between the tangible and the imaginary blurred, giving way to a flow of intense sensations and emotions.
LE MURMURE DES SONGES (The Whisper of Dreams) is an invitation to dive into the dreamscape of my childhood, to explore the hidden corners of my imagination, to dance with the stars, and to embrace the magic of each moment—for young and old alike.
LE MURMURE DES SONGES weaves together multiple choreographic languages and embraces diverse forms. The piece draws its strength both on large stages and in unconventional or more intimate venues. It also adapts to a wide variety of audiences, sparking wonder, evoking magic, and summoning powerful poetic imagery.
It is a new challenge, one that requires me to delve into my deepest truth.
For this new adventure, I have brought together a quartet of dancers, the superb illustrations of Jessie Désolée—bringing to life a poetic bestiary filled with chimeras, plants, and fantastical creatures—to animate this journey into the imagination. All of it carried by the lyrical and musical flights of composer Régis Baillet (Diaphane).
Rosa Montero once said, “Childhood is a place you never return to, but in truth, you never really leave it.”
Kader Attou
“Le Murmure des Songes calls upon our ability to go beyond who we are, allowing invention, imagination, and suggestion to stir our emotions… Kader Attou seeks to awaken within us that whisper of dreams that has never truly left us.”
Agnès Izrine
Artistic director & Choreographer: Kader Attou
Scenography : Kader Attou
Dancers : Margaux Senechault, Ioulia Plotnikova, Artem Orlov, Kevin Mischel
Music: Régis Baillet
Lighting: Cécile Giovansili-Vissière
Video: Caroline Grastilleur
Accessories: Olivier Borne
Illustrations: Jessie Désolée
Producer: Compagnie Accrorap
Coproducers: Scènes et Cinés, scène conventionnée Arts en territoire, Maison des Arts de Créteil
Supported by Département des Bouches-du-Rhône – Centre départemental de créations en résidence
Accompanied creation residency La Fabrique Mimont-Cannes
Danser Canal Historique
The theater in Argenteuil is packed: mostly young children (aged 5 and up) accompanied by their parents have come to see Le Murmure des songes by Kader Attou. With four outstanding performers (two women and two men), the choreographer invites the audience to dive into the dreamlike world of his childhood, explore the hidden corners of his imagination, dance with the stars, and grasp the magic in every moment—constantly present thanks to Jessie Désolée’s stunning illustrations.
The stage is enveloped in a delicately flowered projection curtain, offering a refined frame for these childhood dreams. In the land of slumber—between nightmares and whimsical fantasies—everything transforms with humor and delicacy.
Wallpaper that starts to dance, eyes that seem to watch a sleeping child, a blanket reflecting a ghost, the feeling of swimming with dolphins, floating among clouds, dancing with monsters… and even a nod to Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon—these enchanting scenes captivate both children and adults.
Régis Baillet’s music, combined with Cécile Giovansili-Vissière’s lighting design, propels the performers through various dance styles: flawlessly mastered hip-hop, endlessly flowing movements, touches of classical—delivered with infinite grace and the lightness unique to a child’s wandering night.
This Murmure des songes enchants the entire audience—an impressive first piece by Kader for young audiences. A delicate, intimate creation without a false note that makes children laugh and parents reconnect with their own childhood memories.
Sophie Lesort
Télérama
For this poetically titled piece, hip-hop choreographer Kader Attou delves into his childhood memories, rekindling the boy he once was—the one who caught butterflies to collect the powder from their wings and cover the cardboard wings he had crafted.
From this childhood tale, where the fantasy of flight is tinged with fragility, Attou draws the material for a new creation, performed by four dancers and visually illustrated by Jessie Désolée. A surprising exploration from an artist who still believes in hip-hop’s evocative power to portray even the most delicate of worlds.
Rosita Boisseau
ResMusica
Kader Attou is an illusionist, as proven in his new show Le Murmure des songes, presented at the Maison de la Culture de Créteil.
A delicate quartet praised by young audiences!
In a room adorned with floral wallpaper, a bed with a blanket, and a frame on the wall—that’s the set for Attou’s latest creation, part of a long series of performances for elementary school students in Créteil. The choreographer uses a clever video setup to fill the stage with fantastic floating figures beautifully drawn by illustrator Jessie Désolée.
A small hairy black ball straight out of an Odilon Redon drawing, sperm whales swallowing plants, and clouds projected onto a front-stage tulle or backdrop. The subtly lit video system may feel a bit too ethereal for the large MAC space, packed with children trying to separate fact from fiction—but it certainly fuels adults’ dreams!
The curious and enthusiastic children may not catch the references to Méliès or Chaplin when the image of the moon or Earth bounces between the dancers’ hands, but they fully enjoy the simple and effective movement of the quartet—two male and two female dancers.
A blend of contemporary breakdance and acrobatics, whose soft, elastic fluidity enhances the dreamlike world unfolding before our eyes for an hour.
Playful and mischievous, the four dancers are illusionists in their own right, blending clownish gags and humorous winks. A beautiful show for everyone.
Delphine Goater
Scèneweb.fr
Kader Attou’s first creation for young audiences, Le Murmure des songes, unfolds its endless visual transformations and fluid choreography on the large MAC stage. And once again, the choreographer’s astonishing delicacy works wonders.
This choreographic reverie begins in darkness—a space ripe for imagination, dreams, nightmares, and fantastical visions. Returning to the roots of his own childhood, Kader Attou invites us to wander down the wild paths of our imagination, to open the doors to infinite possibilities and landscapes, to drift away from seriousness and discover what lurks in the dark.
From this blackness, a pair of eyes appears, then another, and more—gazes drawn against whispering murmurs. Who hasn’t, in the solitude of their childhood bedroom, felt the uncanny sense of being watched? Who hasn’t stared at patterned wallpaper until it started dancing in the mind, summoning magic?
On this stage bordered by a transparent tulle screen, the dancers become fleeting chimeras—floating apparitions in a world with new rules. The flowery wallpaper transforms. Space loses its boundaries and ripples like the moving bodies—awakened in a start, no longer walking straight: a pair of legs here, the rest of the body there—somnambulant tightrope walkers navigating another reality.
A world of dreams where everything is in constant metamorphosis.
Teaming up with illustrator Jessie Désolée, Kader Attou roots his dance in a strong visual universe that carries us from ocean depths to starry cosmos, through the ticking gears of a dream machine, a wolf-filled forest, and clouds we swim through.
Régis Baillet’s soundscape is as atmospheric and fluid as the visuals: a mix of acoustic instruments and electronic music, catchy melodies, and driving rhythms that delicately accompany the gravity-defying gestures of an exceptional quartet—full of grace, flexibility, and fluidity.
Once again, Attou’s choreography avoids bravado or virtuoso showmanship. His hip-hop carries the softness of pillow feathers escaping childhood games. He emphasizes elastic bodies, expansive movements, ripples, and undulations.
Far from clichés of battles and urban cultures, here we play ball with the moon, wrap ourselves in thick blankets, share tender duets and playful quartets. A disco ball scatters thousands of stars across the stage, crowning the show’s overall delicacy.
Marie Plantin
2023
6, 7 November
Istres, L’Usine (Théâtre de l’Olivier - Scènes et Cinés « hors les murs »)
12, 13 November
Blagnac, Odyssud
20, 21, 22 November
Vitry-sur-Seine, Théâtre Jean Vilar
30 November
Thonon-les-Bains, MAL - Maison des Arts du Léman
3, 4, 5 December
Choisy-Le-Roi, Théâtre & cinéma de Choisy-le-roi
12, 14, 18, 19, 21, 22 December
Créteil, MAC - Maison des Arts et de la Culture
2024
19 January
Saint-Jean-de-Védas, Théâtre de Chai du Terral
10, 11 March
Corbeil-Essonnes, Théâtre de Corbeil-Essonnes
22, 23 March
Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, Espace Gérard Philipe
10, 11 April
Agen, Théâtre Municipal Ducorneau
26, 27, 28 April
Sceaux, Les Gémeaux
14 May
Chartres, Théâtre de Chartres
25 May
Florac Trois Rivières, La Genette Verte
5 October
Bourgoin-Jallieu, Théâtre Jean-Vilar
8, 9 October
Amiens, Maison de la Culture, Scène Nationale
12, 14 October
Saint-Priest, Théâtre Théo Argence, Festival Karavel
23 October
Saumur, Le Dôme
5, 6, 7 November
Clermont-Ferrand, Festival Trans’urbaines
25, 26 November
Argenteuil, Le Figuier Blanc
30, 1, 2 November
Namur, Théâtre de Namur
18, 19, 20 December
Miramas, Théâtre de la Colonne
2025
16, 17 February
Aubusson, Scène nationale, Théâtre Jean Lurçat
14, 15 March
Maisons-Alfort, Théâtre Claude Debussy
18 March
Chevilly-Larue, Théâtre André Malraux
21 March
Saint-Michel-sur-Orge, Espace Marcel Carné
23 March
Saint-Maur, Théâtre de Saint-Maur
25 March
Le Vésinet, Théâtre du Vésinet
27, 28 March
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Théâtre des Sablons
31 March
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Théâtre des Sablons
16 April
Belgique, Charleroi, Palais des Beaux-Arts
27 January
Clichy, Espace 93
Cie Accrorap
Direction Kader Attou
Creation 2023
Premieres at L’Usine in Istres
A piece for 4 dancers
For all audiences, ages 5 and up
Dates
2025
19 October
Sablé-sur-Sarthe, L’Entracte
6, 7 November
Niort, le Moulin du Roc, Scène Nationale
14, 15 November
Villefranche-sur-Saône, Théâtre
26 November
Vendôme, L'Hectare
28 November
La Ferté Bernard, Centre Culturel Athéna
12, 13 December
Ollioules, Châteauvallon Liberté / Théâtre couvert
17, 18, 19 December
Malakoff, Scène nationale
2026
8, 9 January
Aix-en-Provence, Pavillon Noir
18, 19 January
Suisse, Neufchâtel, Théâtre du Passage
22, 23 January
Grasse, Théâtre
29, 30, 31 January
Villejuif, Théâtre Romain Rolland
4, 5, 6 February
Tulle, L’empreinte, Scène Nationale Brive Tulle
13 February
Cachan, Théâtre Jacques Carat
15 February
Champigny-sur-Marne, Théâtre Gérard-Philippe
10, 11, 12, 13, 14 March
Saint-Etienne, La Comédie, Centre Dramatique National
17, 18 April
Espagne, Madrid, Teatros del Canal
8, 9 May
Suisse, Vevey, Théâtre le Reflet
11, 12 June
Bezons, Théâtre Paul Eluard
