AlShe/Me

As the ambassador of popping, that urban dance which disarticulates the body, Linda Hayford is also fond of mixing and intersecting it with other “upright” styles, such as locking and house. This is very visible in her career as a performer with the Paradox-Sal group, initiated by Ousmane Sy, and her position within the open-ended F.A.I.R.E. collective, which has been at the helm of the Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes since 2019. After her inaugural solo Shapeshifting, created in 2016, AlShe/Me fully illustrates an artistic identity in perpetual evolution. Alongside her older brother Mike Hayford, the same man who introduced her to popping, the choreographer explores the metamorphoses and physical transformations that take place, as influences play out, between two close beings. Questioning their differences as well as their similarities, she confirms the power of an expressive, fluid dance. The sensitivity of her gestures draws from the deepest levels, from the mysterious alchemy that gives the duet its title.

Linda Hayford

Linda Hayford is co-director of the FAIR-E Collective / CCN de Rennes et de Bretagne. As a dancer and choreographer, she has been developing her personal projects with Cie Inside Out since 2015. Her dance, which is based on popping techniques and marked by the world of battles, relies on complex gestures while dealing with intimate subjects. From piece to piece, including her trio Recovering created in 2022, she develops a specific vocabulary called “shifting pop”, a sensory and emotional exploration of the performer's inner metamorphoses.