[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"habillage":3,"actualites-toutes":5},{"saison":4},"halloween",[6,24,41,58,65,81,96,112,119,134,150,167,182,189,204,219,235,253,260,276,292,299,306,313,320,326,332,339],{"id":7,"slug":8,"titre":9,"chapo":10,"rubrique":11,"image_url":12,"image_credit":13,"commune":14,"publie_le":15,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":16,"traductions":17},"d1fbadab-e79a-46c9-8b22-8a6397f69804","melanie-schmidt-ulmann-et-son-cahier-d-hildegarde-de-bingen","Mélanie Schmidt-Ulmann et son cahier d'Hildegarde de Bingen","Une fois n'est pas coutume : ni club testé ni structure rencontrée, mais une amie de l'équipe. Mélanie Schmidt-Ulmann, thérapeute au Mans, signe un cahier de remèdes et de recettes inspiré d'Hildegarde de Bingen, et le dédicace au Mans les 14 et 20 novembre.","coulisses","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fd1fbadab-e79a-46c9-8b22-8a6397f69804\u002F1792570915104-jjqoqw.jpg","Photo : Sortir au Mans","Le Mans","2026-10-21T08:45:12.583022+00:00",null,{"en-US":18},{"_h":19,"chapo":20,"corps":21,"titre":22,"lien_label":23},"64d75becc52ea59f","For once, it's neither a club we tested nor an organization we met, but a friend of the team. Mélanie Schmidt-Ulmann, a therapist in Le Mans, has written a notebook of remedies and recipes inspired by Hildegard of Bingen, and is signing copies in Le Mans on November 14 and 20.","## An article outside our usual routine\n\nUsually, we write after going on site: a class we tried, a team we met. This article came about differently. Mélanie, a friend of the team, wanted to share her passion for well-being with the people of Le Mans. We talked it over among ourselves and thought: why not? Sortir au Mans is also about the people here who create, who write, who pass things on.\n\nYou won't find it in our regular sections: we're simply sharing it, hand to hand, with those it might interest.\n\n## Who is Mélanie Schmidt-Ulmann?\n\nMélanie is a holistic therapist and psycho-practitioner. She has supported families for about twenty years: one of the first doulas in France, she created Slow Parentalité (slow parenting), then trained in naturopathy at the Institut Hildegardien, in Bach flowers (she is a certified counselor) and in olfactotherapy.\n\nShe also writes. Eleven books to her name, on parenting, zero waste and above all Hildegard of Bingen, to whom she has already devoted “Les secrets de bien-être d'Hildegarde de Bingen” and “Le grand livre des secrets de santé d'Hildegarde de Bingen.” Her guides have been translated into German, English, Italian and Portuguese, among other languages.\n\n![Mélanie Schmidt-Ulmann (photo: Olinfact Production)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fmelanie-schmidt-ulmann\u002Fportrait-melanie-schmidt-ulmann.jpg)\n\n## Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th-century abbess\n\nBorn around 1098 in the Rhineland, Hildegard was a Benedictine nun. She led a community of nuns, founded two monasteries near Bingen, composed music and wrote about plants, stones and remedies in two works, “Physica” and “Causae et curae.” Spelt holds first place among the grains there.\n\nAt the heart of her thinking is one word: viriditas, the “green force,” that vital, self-healing power that makes plants grow and that, for her, sustains the health of the body as well as of the soul. In 2012, she was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church, the fourth woman to receive that title.\n\n## The notebook\n\n“Mon cahier de remèdes & recettes d'Hildegarde de Bingen,” subtitled “Pour apaiser naturellement les maux du corps & de l'âme,” came out in late September from Éditions Mosaïque-Santé. In it, Mélanie gathers more than 150 entries arranged from A to Z: everyday remedies, beauty formulas, rituals for emotions and cooking recipes.\n\nYou'll find the food of joy, plants, stones and buds, arranged by major themes: digestion, heart and circulation, immunity, respiratory tract, women's health, muscles and joints… Each entry gives the ingredients, the method and tips for use. It's a practical notebook, one to keep in the kitchen rather than on a shelf.\n\nThese are gentle practices, meant as a complement to daily life: for a real health concern, your doctor remains the first person to see.\n\n## To meet her\n\n- **Through November 30:** in her new practice space at L'Étoile du Nord, 10 rue du Nord, Mélanie is offering a free individual 30-minute discovery session, subject to available slots. By appointment by phone or text at 06 16 29 49 33.\n- **Saturday, November 14, 3–6 PM:** book signing at the bookstore area of a major cultural retailer in Le Mans. A chance to leaf through it, ask her your questions and leave with a signed copy.\n- **Friday, November 20, 5:30 PM:** a second signing, at the Thuard bookstore.\n\nMélanie put a lot of herself into this notebook: share this article with someone who likes taking care of themselves naturally.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- Free discovery session: through November 30, L'Étoile du Nord, 10 rue du Nord, Le Mans. By appointment at 06 16 29 49 33\n- Signing: Saturday, November 14, 3–6 PM, bookstore area of the Fnac in Le Mans\n- Signing: Friday, November 20, 5:30 PM, Thuard bookstore, Le Mans\n- [The notebook on the publisher's website](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.mosaique-sante.com\u002Fles-livres\u002Fles-cahiers\u002F291-mon-cahier-de-remedes-recettes-dhildegarde-de-bingen)\n- [Mélanie Schmidt-Ulmann's website](https:\u002F\u002Fmelanie-schmidt-ulmann.com\u002F)","Mélanie Schmidt-Ulmann and her Hildegard of Bingen notebook","Mélanie Schmidt-Ulmann's website",{"id":25,"slug":26,"titre":27,"chapo":28,"rubrique":29,"image_url":30,"image_credit":31,"commune":14,"publie_le":32,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":33,"traductions":34},"6f4a341c-67f5-4ae6-8470-2dde8b52b2cb","roller-derby-72-le-club-ou-l-on-joue-librement-et-ou-les-hits-pleuvent","Roller Derby 72 : le club où l’on joue librement, et où les hits pleuvent","En octobre, Roller Derby 72 nous a ouvert les portes de son gymnase un soir d'entraînement. On venait parler valeurs ; on repart avec une conviction : ici, c'est d'abord un club de sport, où chaque personne joue librement, et où l'on ne se contente pas de se pousser.","rencontre","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002F6f4a341c-67f5-4ae6-8470-2dde8b52b2cb\u002F1791835365126-1uiaq1.jpg","Photo : Roller Derby 72 (cliché Mimon Kalia) — Facebook","2026-10-18T11:00:00+00:00","265c9825-f370-477b-a471-e22e7aa39029",{"en-US":35},{"_h":36,"chapo":37,"corps":38,"titre":39,"lien_label":40},"c248040a8e36f507","In October, Roller Derby 72 opened the doors of its gym to us on a practice night. We came to talk values; we left with one conviction: this is first and foremost a sports club, where everyone plays freely, and where it's not just about shoving each other around.","A quick note before we start: on a suggestion dropped during our visit, we tried inclusive writing for the first time in the French version of this article. Words that include everyone where possible, and an occasional middle dot (joueur·euses, débutant·es), as the club does on its own social media. We're beginners at this, like a recruit at her first practice: thanks in advance for your patience if we stumble.\r\n\r\n## A sports club first\r\n\r\nWe came to talk values, and we talked about them a lot. But the sentence that stuck with us is simpler: “We're here to play roller derby.” Roller Derby 72 is first and foremost a sports club, with its practices, its championship, its strategies and its bruises. The values serve a single idea: that everyone can play freely, with no sideways looks and no inappropriate remarks.\r\n\r\nYou only have to watch a practice to understand it: no two skaters look alike, and every body type finds a place on the track.\r\n\r\n## Three teams, from National 1 to recreational\r\n\r\nThe club, a nonprofit founded in Le Mans in 2011, runs several groups:\r\n\r\n- the **Missfeet**, in National 1 F+, just below the top tier of the French championship, who secured their place in the division last spring;\r\n- the **Chicaneuses**, in National 3 F+, who are starting their second championship season after a first one last year;\r\n- the **Rillettes Chili Peppers**, the recreational group, co-ed and open to all genders;\r\n- the **Rookies**, the group for beginners.\r\n\r\nThe F+ category brings together, in the club's words, women and gender minorities.\r\n\r\n![The Chicaneuses lined up on the track, ready for the jam (photo: Roller Derby 72, shot by Mimon Kalia)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002F6f4a341c-67f5-4ae6-8470-2dde8b52b2cb\u002F1791835359994-dtw6rk.jpg)\r\n\r\nA championship season means two competition weekends per team, and a third if you make the playoffs. Travel is mostly in the west of France (Brest for the first leg this season), sometimes as far as Paris. The club also hosts two to three big events a year at home, championship legs or tournaments like Never Track Down and Sarthe & Furious, with pay-what-you-want admission: that's what pays for renting the gym, the equipment and the travel.\r\n\r\n## The hit: we thought they just shoved\r\n\r\nLet's be honest: we pictured skaters bumping into each other a little in the turns. Wrong. LuCe, the Chicaneuses' coach, whom we met that evening, said it plainly: “we really do hit each other.” The move has a name, the hit (the rulebook calls it a block). You strike with the shoulder and hip to throw the opponent off balance, knock her down, or open a gap for your star: the person wearing a star on her helmet, the jammer, who scores the points.\r\n\r\n![A Chicaneuses player at full speed, shoulder forward (photo: Roller Derby 72, shot by Mimon Kalia)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002F6f4a341c-67f5-4ae6-8470-2dde8b52b2cb\u002F1791835361018-1mowzr.jpg)\r\n\r\nNo tackling, and strict rules: you can't block with the forearm or the elbow, and you can't aim at the back, the head, or the legs below mid-thigh. Every foul sends you to the penalty box for 30 seconds, and all of them are called in English, a legacy of the sport's country of origin: a “forearm” for one forearm too many, a “cut” when you re-enter the track illegally. In France, a volunteer committee translates and adapts all these resources.\r\n\r\nIt's a team sport often compared to rugby: very tactical, very cardio, made of sprints and collisions. From the edge of the track, it's a true contact sport on wheels. You hit to create a path, never for the pleasure of smashing into someone, but you hit hard. No mercy.\r\n\r\n![On the floor, then back up: with the Missfeet, you fall and you get up (photo: Roller Derby 72, shot by Steffie Photographies)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002F6f4a341c-67f5-4ae6-8470-2dde8b52b2cb\u002F1791835362791-tagq2u.jpg)\r\n\r\nTo take the hits, protection is mandatory: an approved helmet (a fixed visor is allowed for playing with glasses, never a cage), elbow pads, wrist guards, knee pads and a mouthguard. On the feet, quads: four-wheeled skates, two wheels in front, two behind, with an adjustable toe stop at the front.\r\n\r\n## Playing freely, with no looks and no remarks\r\n\r\nRoller derby was born in the United States. A spectator sport in the 1930s, it fell out of fashion in the 1970s. In the early 2000s, in Austin, Texas, women revived it and made it a sport in its own right, with its leagues, rules and competition. There are two versions: the banked track, more spectacular, and the flat track, the one the club plays.\r\n\r\nInclusion is part of that heritage. The WFTDA (Women's Flat Track Derby Association), the major federation born of that revival, opened its teams to trans and intersex women in 2015. In February 2025, it clarified that it welcomes all marginalized-gender people: women, whether cis, trans or intersex, trans men and nonbinary people, with no proof required. In France, the Fédération française de roller et skateboard writes respect for gender self-determination into its rules and penalizes transphobia.\r\n\r\n![The Missfeet entering the track (photo: Roller Derby 72, shot by Steffie Photographies)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002F6f4a341c-67f5-4ae6-8470-2dde8b52b2cb\u002F1791835361762-f0oe4j.jpg)\r\n\r\nIn Le Mans, all of this translates very concretely. This season, the club offers co-ed practices, open to all gender identities, and others that are by choice non-co-ed, open to all gender identities except cisgender men. An inclusion team makes sure these values are respected, with training and regular messages to members. At events, posters remind everyone of them and “safers” take reports, then go talk with the people involved. If talking isn't enough, whoever made the inappropriate remark is asked to leave.\r\n\r\nWhy so much care? Because some people deal with remarks every day and simply want a place to play sports safely. People newly arrived in Le Mans walked through the gym door for exactly that reason; they've been playing there for years. What's at stake comes down to a few words: being able to skate, fall, get back up and hit without wondering how you're being looked at.\r\n\r\n## Trust is earned on the track\r\n\r\nOur guide for the evening, LuCe, is one of those people you don't forget: coach of the Chicaneuses, more than fifteen years of roller derby, and long experience with beginners. She has seen dozens of recruits arrive with no confidence, in their skates or in their bodies, then have a breakthrough during the year. To her players, she repeats: “You leave your day outside. In here, this is your time.”\r\n\r\nShe also talks about what the sport taught her: finishing an entire game after almost an hour of hits, having scored points, still standing on her skates at the end, and winning with her team. Enough to walk away with a “pretty impressive” level of self-confidence.\r\n\r\n![Laughter between opponents after a jam (photo: Roller Derby 72, shot by Steffie Photographies)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002F6f4a341c-67f5-4ae6-8470-2dde8b52b2cb\u002F1791835363862-c2uat2.jpg)\r\n\r\n## Starting out without ever having skated\r\n\r\nNo expertise needed. Some ease on wheels helps, but the club also supports people who have never put on skates. The first three things you learn: falling safely, getting around, stopping. “And after that, off you go.” On the track, one player who had never skated when she arrived now plays in competition.\r\n\r\nUntil December, the club holds trial sessions on certain Saturday mornings, at the Vauguyon gym, from 10 AM to 1 PM. Sign-up goes through a one-day license, so everyone is insured during the session. Equipment is lent; just come in sportswear with a water bottle. After that come the practices, split among the groups: Monday and Wednesday from 8 to 9:45 PM, and Saturday from 10 AM to 1 PM. They are for adults, and the detailed schedule is on the club's website; trials are open from age 17, with parental permission for minors.\r\n\r\n## Thank you\r\n\r\nThank you to Roller Derby 72 for opening the doors of its world to us: a world of freedom, where everyone finds their place… and where, on the track, things get seriously rough.\r\n\r\nThis club is well worth a visit: share this article with someone who wants to give it a try.\r\n\r\n## Getting there\r\n\r\n- Trial sessions: Saturday, October 31 (co-ed), Saturday, November 21 (by choice non-co-ed), 10 AM–1 PM, Vauguyon gym, Le Mans.\r\n- Practices: Monday and Wednesday 8–9:45 PM, Saturday 10 AM–1 PM, for adults (schedule on the club's website).\r\n- Trials from age 17, equipment lent, one-day license.\r\n- Sign-up: on the club's website, under “Sessions d'initiation.”\r\n- Questions: recrutementrollerderby72@gmail.com\r\n- [Roller Derby 72 on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Froller-derby-72)","Roller Derby 72: the club where you play freely, and the hits keep coming","The club's website",{"id":42,"slug":43,"titre":44,"chapo":45,"rubrique":29,"image_url":46,"image_credit":47,"commune":48,"publie_le":49,"event_id":16,"venue_id":50,"association_id":16,"traductions":51},"14b3425f-f64c-4845-baf5-9fab5943aa26","pole-europeen-du-cheval-50-hectares-de-concours-equestres-aux-portes-du-mans-et-l-entree-est-gratuite","Pôle européen du cheval : 50 hectares de concours équestres aux portes du Mans, ouverts au public","En octobre, on a poussé la porte du Pôle européen du cheval, à Yvré-l'Évêque. On s'attendait à un lieu réservé aux cavaliers ; on a découvert l'un des plus grands sites équestres de France, ouvert à tous, presque tous les week-ends de l'année.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fpole-europeen-du-cheval\u002F2026-10-15-site-poney-riviere.jpg","Photo : Pôle européen du cheval (cliché Les Garennes)","Yvré-l'Évêque","2026-10-16T06:00:00+00:00","eef9a559-6855-4f4b-86f7-ce8ff3328e09",{"en-US":52},{"_h":53,"chapo":54,"corps":55,"titre":56,"lien_label":57},"da069d85a04ab6d2","In October, we pushed open the door of the Pôle européen du cheval in Yvré-l'Évêque. We expected a place reserved for riders; we found one of the largest equestrian sites in France, open to everyone, almost every weekend of the year.","“Anyone can come, alone, with family, however they like,” Emmanuelle told us as she welcomed us. You can watch competitions where kids on their first pony share the grounds with riders from all over Europe. And it's ten minutes from the center of Le Mans.\n\n## A show almost every weekend\n\nAlmost every weekend of the year, something is happening on the site. Most often show jumping or dressage, but also vaulting, horseball, or pony games. And every level shares the grounds: you can see little ones run their course on a Shetland, “and that's very cute too,” then, on the next ring over, international-level horse-and-rider pairs.\n\n![A pony and its rider over the water, on an outdoor ring (photo: Pôle européen du cheval, shot by Les Garennes)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fpole-europeen-du-cheval\u002F2026-10-15-site-poney-riviere.jpg)\n\nYou don't have to be a rider or entered in the competition to come watch the events. Admission details are listed on each competition's page, in the Pôle's calendar: admission is free, for example, for the mid-October dressage competition and for the Grand National in November.\n\n## Much more than a competition\n\nWhat surprised us most was everything you can do around the rings:\n\n- stroll along the paths, and even along the cross-country course when there's no event, the way you would at the Arche de la Nature;\n- browse about twenty shops, which sell more than just riding gear;\n- eat on site during competitions: a self-service cafeteria, a panoramic restaurant upstairs, and a crêperie;\n- have a drink or a pizza at Le Mans Padel, set up in one of the buildings and open every day of the week.\n\nYou can also come for a walk on weekdays, outside of competitions: “you can come for a walk anytime.” And your dog can come along, on a leash.\n\n![A rider salutes at the end of her dressage test (photo: Pôle européen du cheval, shot by Les Garennes)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fpole-europeen-du-cheval\u002F2026-10-15-site-dressage.jpg)\n\n## It all started with eight stalls\n\nIn 1982, Philippe Rossi is 17 and has one passion: horses. His parents move with him into a house across the road, with eight stalls and a pasture. He becomes a professional rider, builds a career and an arena, then organizes his first competitions under the name Boulerie Jump.\n\nThe site has grown step by step. First several rings running at the same time, a format that was rare in France then, to host lots of riders every weekend. Then two large covered buildings for competing year-round, whose roofs carry 8,000 m² of solar panels. About forty riders devoted to the place took part in the adventure. More recently, all the rings were switched to sub-irrigation: the water comes from underneath, which saves about 70% of the water and gives horses a perfectly even surface.\n\n![A young rider on the cross-country course (photo: Pôle européen du cheval, shot by Les Garennes)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fpole-europeen-du-cheval\u002F2026-10-15-site-cross.jpg)\n\n## A European-level site, on the edge of Le Mans\n\nToday, the Pôle covers about fifty hectares, has 400 permanent stalls, and can host up to 1,500 horses at its major events. It hosts international competitions and European championships, it is recognized by the French Equestrian Federation, and it was selected as a training base for the Games. Riders come from all over Europe, and sometimes from Asia or the Americas, during their European tours. You can even stay overnight: cottages, gîtes, and rooms sleep up to 300 people, and everything is full during the 24 Heures.\n\n![Show jumping on one of the outdoor rings (photo: Pôle européen du cheval, shot by Les Garennes)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fpole-europeen-du-cheval\u002F2026-10-15-site-cso.jpg)\n\n## Our tips for a first visit\n\n- Check the calendar on the Pôle's website to pick your weekend and the discipline that appeals to you, and check the event's page for admission details.\n- Bring good shoes if you want to walk the rings and the cross-country course: the site is big and rural.\n- With kids, a pony competition weekend is a great first time: the riders are their age.\n\n## Thank you\n\nThank you to Emmanuelle for opening the doors of the Pôle to us and telling us its story. We left with one certainty: we'll be back, with the kids.\n\nThis place is really worth the trip: share this article with someone who loves horses, or who is looking for a family outing this weekend.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- Pôle européen du cheval, 648 route de Feumusson, Yvré-l'Évêque (about ten minutes from the center of Le Mans).\n- Free access to walk around the site, on weekdays and weekends alike, except areas reserved for seminars.\n- For competitions, admission details are on each event's page, in the Pôle's calendar. Visitor parking: Pôle 4.\n- Competition calendar and event times: on the Pôle's website.\n- Upcoming events (subject to change): Tournée des As poneys from October 30 to November 1, Grand National show jumping from November 12 to 15, Concours de Noël from December 4 to 6, and the Christmas equestrian show “Au Galop dans les Étoiles” from December 11 to 20 (paid show, by reservation).\n- Dogs welcome, on a leash.\n- [The Pôle européen du cheval page on Sortir au Mans](\u002Flieu\u002Fpole-europeen-du-cheval)","Pôle européen du cheval: 50 hectares of equestrian competitions on the edge of Le Mans, open to the public","The Pôle's website",{"id":59,"slug":59,"titre":60,"chapo":61,"rubrique":62,"image_url":46,"publie_le":63,"commune":16,"lien":64},"infolettre-2026-10-16","C'est les vacances : idées, stages et une belle découverte","C'est les vacances ! Plus d'école du samedi 17 octobre au lundi 2 novembre : deux semaines à remplir, et Le Mans a de quoi faire. Au programme de cette infolettre : des idées pour ce week-end, des stages pour faire découvrir une activité aux enfants (ou à vous-même), et une décou","infolettre","2026-10-16T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-10-16",{"id":66,"slug":67,"titre":68,"chapo":69,"rubrique":29,"image_url":70,"image_credit":71,"commune":48,"publie_le":72,"event_id":16,"venue_id":73,"association_id":16,"traductions":74},"9bc3b90a-596b-4403-82cb-1611640c523c","a-la-rencontre-de-l-abbaye-royale-de-l-epau","L'Abbaye Royale de l'Épau, l'abbaye d'une reine aux portes du Mans","En octobre, nous avons rencontré l'équipe de l'Abbaye Royale de l'Épau, à Yvré-l'Évêque. Une abbaye cistercienne fondée au XIIIe siècle par une reine d'Angleterre, un parc au bord de l'Huisne, et une programmation qui fait une belle place aux familles, à commencer par les vacances de la Toussaint.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fevent-images\u002Fvenue-abbaye-royale-de-lepau.jpg","Photo : Selbymay, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons","2026-10-13T06:00:00+00:00","609ad509-e7a1-48b0-8752-44ffcbad0bcd",{"en-US":75},{"_h":76,"chapo":77,"corps":78,"titre":79,"lien_label":80},"e53b24b99b02e503","In October, we met the team at the Abbaye Royale de l'Épau, in Yvré-l'Évêque. A Cistercian abbey founded in the 13th century by a queen of England, a park on the banks of the Huisne, and a program that makes plenty of room for families, starting with the All Saints' school holidays.","## A queen's abbey\n\nThe story begins with Berengaria of Navarre, queen of England and widow of Richard the Lionheart. Settled in Le Mans in 1204, she lived there for nearly thirty years. Near the end of her life, she obtained a plot of land on the banks of the Huisne and founded a Cistercian monastery there to house her tomb. She died in 1230 without seeing her work completed; her recumbent effigy is now kept at the abbey.\n\nAfter the Revolution, the abbey became a laundry, then a farm, for more than a century and a half. The Département de la Sarthe bought it in 1959 and restored it; it was listed as a historic monument in 1973. The church, cloister, chapter house, scriptorium and monks' dormitory have been brought back together, and the site now goes by the name Abbaye Royale de l'Épau.\n\n## Thank you for the welcome\n\nThank you to the abbey team for having us.\n\n## An investigation to find the queen\n\nThis is the new thing this year: “Les mystères de l'abbaye.” During the Hundred Years' War, Queen Berengaria's body disappeared. Hidden by a monk? Taken back to England? Riddles, symbols and clues are hidden in the rooms, to be decoded as a team.\n\nThe game is played at your own pace, from age 12 and with at least two or three players, in 1 to 1.5 hours. The kit is picked up at the front desk, at no extra charge beyond admission.\n\n## An abbey designed for families\n\nThe abbey has signed the Môm'Art charter, which commits heritage sites to welcoming children well. Two free activity booklets let you explore the site on your own, one for ages 3–6, the other for ages 7–12, and a digital investigation for young audiences is played on a phone with the Guidigo app. A sign language video guide and an “easy-to-read-and-understand” booklet are also available at the front desk.\n\n## The garden that feeds the Café des Moines\n\nThe park is organized around a permaculture garden: beehives, pond, food forest, greenhouse and henhouse, with a layout that follows that of the church's great stained-glass window. This garden feeds the Café des Moines, whose chef puts together a seasonal menu each week, served on the terrace facing the park. At the shop, you'll find the garden's products: preserves, herbal teas and a liqueur made from aromatic herbs.\n\n## All Saints' school holidays at l'Épau\n\n- From Saturday, October 17 to Sunday, November 1, 11 AM–6 PM (except Tuesdays): the autumn quest, self-guided, for kids.\n- Wednesday, October 21, 3–4:30 PM: pumpkin decorating workshop, where you carve a scary or funny face into a turnip or a pumpkin, from age 7.\n- Wednesday, October 28, 3–4:30 PM: “L'art du jaspage,” decorating the edge of a book with colorful patterns, as bookbinders have done since the late Middle Ages. From age 7, and you can bring your own book.\n\nSpots are limited and reservations are required, with an accompanying adult.\n\n## And after that\n\nOn Thursday, November 12 at 7 PM, a lecture presents the old tapestries kept at the abbey. From November 27 to January 3, the Voyage lumineux et sonore lights up the park at nightfall, with free admission. During the Christmas holidays, a winter quest and two workshops take over: winter wreath on December 23, illuminated greeting card on December 30.\n\nFrom September to June, a guided tour is offered every Saturday and Sunday, at 11 AM and 4 PM, to discover the history of the abbey and its founder.\n\n## Next step: we try it\n\nWe'd like to come back during the holidays to try one of these activities, like any other visitors. The story, and the video, will follow here.\n\nThis abbey is well worth a visit: share this article with someone looking for an outing for the school holidays.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- Abbaye Royale de l'Épau, route de Changé, 72530 Yvré-l'Évêque.\n- Tram line 2, toward Espal - Arche de la Nature, Épau - Gué Bernisson stop, then a 5-minute walk.\n- Open Wednesday to Sunday, 11 AM–6 PM, from September to June; holiday hours on the abbey's website.\n- Reservations (workshops, quests, guided tours): 02 43 84 22 29 or epau.accueil@sarthe.fr.\n- [Abbaye Royale de l'Épau on Sortir au Mans](\u002Flieu\u002Fabbaye-royale-de-lepau)","Abbaye Royale de l'Épau, a queen's abbey at the gates of Le Mans","The abbey's website",{"id":82,"slug":83,"titre":84,"chapo":85,"rubrique":29,"image_url":86,"image_credit":87,"commune":14,"publie_le":88,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":89,"traductions":90},"78666f62-1449-4568-ac5c-0e7f50084931","le-mans-kendo-club-nous-a-ouvert-ses-portes","Au Mans Kendo Club, de 8 à 75 ans sur le même parquet","En octobre, Le Mans Kendo Club nous a accueillis pendant son entraînement du samedi matin, salle Marcel-Cerdan. Une section née en 2024 au sein de l'ASL-CE Renault, portée par des enseignants qui font vivre le kendo au Mans depuis le milieu des années 1980. Et une bonne nouvelle : le club est d'accord pour qu'on revienne tester une séance.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fassociations\u002Fle-mans-kendo-club\u002Fstage-regional-seiza.jpg","Photo : Le Mans Kendo Club — site officiel","2026-10-11T06:00:00+00:00","5513b206-d45a-4f35-b459-decf6e528e36",{"en-US":91},{"_h":92,"chapo":93,"corps":94,"titre":95,"lien_label":40},"be0343099ad9e52b","In October, Le Mans Kendo Club welcomed us during its Saturday morning practice at Salle Marcel-Cerdan. A section founded in 2024 within the ASL-CE Renault, run by instructors who have kept kendo alive in Le Mans since the mid-1980s. And good news: the club is happy for us to come back and try a class.","## A young section, a long history\n\nKendo is Japanese fencing: you face off with a shinai, a bamboo sword, wearing armor. In Le Mans, the discipline is nothing new: the section's founder has been teaching it since 1985, and the instructor who welcomed us joined him in 1993. In 2024, the team founded a new section within the ASL-CE Renault: Le Mans Kendo Club. It now has between 25 and 30 practitioners, and 6 to 12 per session.\n\n![Kendo demonstration on the mats, at the September 2024 open house (photo: Le Mans Kendo Club)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fassociations\u002Fle-mans-kendo-club\u002Fportes-ouvertes-2024.jpg)\n\n## A Saturday morning on the floor\n\nOn Saturdays, from 10 AM to noon, the club trains on a dance floor, “the kind of floor you look for”: no tatami in kendo, you need a floor that's springy, but not too much. Every attack combines three things: “the movement, the cut and the kiai […] have to happen in the same fraction of a second. Which makes it pretty loud.” The kiai is the shout let out at the moment of striking.\n\nTwo practices share the sessions: shinai combat, in armor, and katas, set two-person exercises with the bokuto, a curved wooden sword made of oak that stands in for a real sword.\n\nOn the floor, all ages mix: the club takes kids from age 8, and one of the practitioners is 75. “He practices less hard, but he's just as effective.” In team competition, it's co-ed.\n\nThank you to the instructors and practitioners for opening their doors and taking the time to introduce us to their discipline.\n\n## Getting started: sweatpants are enough\n\n“You can practice a whole season in sweatpants,” the first one at least, with a T-shirt. The minimum equipment is a shinai, and if possible a bokuto. At the start of the season, the club hosts introductory sessions in the middle of the classes and adapts the session for newcomers: the simplest thing is to contact the club before coming. The armor (the bogu) and the traditional outfit come later, at your own pace.\n\nThere are no belts in kendo: you progress through grades, six kyu, then up to eight dan. “There's enough there to keep you busy for a lifetime.”\n\n![Armor and shinai lined up on the floor before a training camp session (photo: Le Mans Kendo Club)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fassociations\u002Fle-mans-kendo-club\u002Farmures-alignees.jpg)\n\n## Four sessions a week\n\n- Monday and Thursday, 7–9 PM: adults, at the Bellevue gym.\n- Wednesday, 4:30–5:30 PM: kids and students, at the judo dojo on rue du Spoutnik.\n- Saturday, 10 AM–noon: all levels, at Salle Marcel-Cerdan, rue du Spoutnik.\n\nPractitioners also go to training camps with other clubs: regional camps, a women's camp, or the big gathering in Saint-Mandé, near Paris.\n\n![Women practitioners and young kendoka together at the end of a women's camp (photo: Le Mans Kendo Club)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fassociations\u002Fle-mans-kendo-club\u002Fstage-feminin-groupe.jpg)\n\n## Next step: we try it\n\nWe'll come back to take part in a session, like any beginner. The story, and the video, will follow here.\n\nThis club is well worth a visit: share this article with someone who wants to give it a try.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- Session open to everyone: Saturday 10 AM–noon, Salle Marcel-Cerdan, 20 rue du Spoutnik, Le Mans.\n- To get started: sweatpants and a T-shirt; contact the club before your first session.\n- Prices and sign-up: on the club's website.\n- [Le Mans Kendo Club on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Fle-mans-kendo-club)","At Le Mans Kendo Club, ages 8 to 75 on the same floor",{"id":97,"slug":98,"titre":99,"chapo":100,"rubrique":29,"image_url":101,"image_credit":102,"commune":14,"publie_le":103,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":104,"traductions":105},"4df0eeb7-f5a3-4668-90b1-0c24e963b858","a-la-rencontre-du-djam-les-heures-ludiques-le-festival-ou-tout-le-monde-joue","À la rencontre du DJAM – Les Heures Ludiques, le festival où tout le monde joue","En octobre, nous avons échangé avec Didier Boureau, l'un des organisateurs du DJAM – Les Heures Ludiques. Sept associations de jeu du Mans, quelque 70 bénévoles et un principe tenu depuis le début : un week-end de jeu gratuit aux Quinconces, ouvert à tous, dès 3 ans. La 17e édition a lieu les 7 et 8 novembre.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fassociations\u002Fcomite-festival-jeux-esprit\u002F1.jpg","Photo : DJAM – Les Heures Ludiques — site officiel (édition 2025)","2026-10-10T06:00:00+00:00","db21a475-2f8b-49f1-b3fe-daa19a3d00cf",{"en-US":106},{"_h":107,"chapo":108,"corps":109,"titre":110,"lien_label":111},"6da6445189f82421","In October, we talked with Didier Boureau, one of the organizers of the DJAM – Les Heures Ludiques. Seven Le Mans game nonprofits, some 70 volunteers, and a principle held since the start: a free game weekend at Les Quinconces, open to all, ages 3 and up. The 17th edition takes place November 7 and 8.","## Seven nonprofits behind one festival\n\nDJAM stands for “Des Jeux Au Mans.” The festival isn't the work of a single club: it brings together seven of the city's game nonprofits, which pool their volunteers and know-how. The ludothèque Planet'Jeux, the Échiquier Club Le Mans, Le Mans GO, the Damier manceau, Le Mans Bridge Club, Akiltoor, for board games, and the Prétoriens, for miniatures and historical games.\n\nAt the start, there was chess, go, and math games: the festival was then called the Festival des jeux de l'esprit, and the nonprofit that runs it still keeps that as its official name. Since then, it has opened up to every kind of game, and each edition has a theme.\n\n![The festival's volunteers, in yellow T-shirts, among the tables at the Forum during the 2025 edition (photo: DJAM – Les Heures Ludiques)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fassociations\u002Fcomite-festival-jeux-esprit\u002Fdjam-2025-132.jpg)\n\n## Why everything is free\n\nThree ideas come up when you ask what makes the DJAM what it is. Free admission first: you walk in without a ticket and stay as long as you like. Play for its own sake next: you play for the fun of it, not to win a prize. And diversity, because there are games for every taste and every age. On site, you move freely from room to room.\n\nThe festival welcomes children from age 3. The organizer's tip for families: come in the morning, it's calmer.\n\n## What you'll find, room by room\n\nThe festival takes over several spaces at Les Quinconces. In the Forum's big hall, family board games, with the year's new releases featured and volunteers to explain the rules. The exhibition room hosts abstract games and the clubs: chess, go, checkers, and bridge, with players ready to introduce curious newcomers.\n\nThe small theater is reserved for families: the ludothèque sets up an area there for the youngest, from age 3. In the lobby, the Prétoriens set up their miniatures and historical games, and a “challenge zone” offers games made from cardboard or homemade. The neighboring Pathé cinema takes part too, with big wooden games.\n\n![The toddlers' area during the 2025 edition (photo: DJAM – Les Heures Ludiques)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fassociations\u002Fcomite-festival-jeux-esprit\u002Fdjam-2025-156.jpg)\n\n## Tournaments for those who love competition\n\nThe weekend has its tournaments too. Le Mans GO, a recently relaunched go club, holds its annual tournament in the theater lobby: registration Saturday at noon, two rounds on Saturday, two on Sunday, and an awards ceremony on Sunday at 5 PM. The Échiquier Club Le Mans holds a chess tournament there in tribute to Jacques Lambert.\n\n![The go tournament during the 2024 edition (photo: DJAM – Les Heures Ludiques)](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fassociations\u002Fcomite-festival-jeux-esprit\u002Fdjam-2024-117.jpg)\n\n## All year round, at Le Carré Rouge and L'Espal\n\nThe DJAM doesn't stop in November. During the season, the member nonprofits run game events at Le Carré Rouge, Les Quinconces, and L'Espal: board game afternoons with Akiltoor, go evenings, chess evenings and kids' tournaments, playful Wednesdays with Planet'Jeux.\n\nThe festival welcomes several thousand visitors every year. It is put on with the support of the City of Le Mans and its cultural department.\n\nThis festival is really worth a visit: share this article with someone who loves to play, or who is looking for a family outing in November.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- When: Saturday, November 7, 2026 from 10 AM to 11 PM, Sunday, November 8 from 10 AM to 6 PM.\n- Where: Les Quinconces, place des Jacobins, Le Mans (tram T2, Jacobins – Quinconces stop; Quinconces parking).\n- Free admission, no reservation. Ages 3 and up; calmer in the morning.\n- Go tournament: information and registration on the festival's website.\n- [The festival page in the Sortir au Mans calendar](\u002Fevenement\u002Fdjam-des-jeux-au-mans-2026)\n- [The DJAM – Les Heures Ludiques page on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Fcomite-festival-jeux-esprit)","Meeting the DJAM – Les Heures Ludiques, the festival where everyone plays","The festival's website",{"id":113,"slug":113,"titre":114,"chapo":115,"rubrique":62,"image_url":116,"publie_le":117,"commune":16,"lien":118},"infolettre-2026-10-09","Le Mans déborde de sorties","On va vous faire un aveu : avant de lancer Sortir au Mans, on faisait partie de ceux qui pensaient qu' il n'y a pas grand-chose à faire au Mans . Alors on a cherché, fiche après fiche. Puis on est sortis de l'écran pour aller sur le terrain. Verdict : on avait tort, et de loin. L","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Finfolettres\u002F2026-10-09-coups-de-coeur.jpg","2026-10-09T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-10-09",{"id":120,"slug":121,"titre":122,"chapo":123,"rubrique":11,"image_url":124,"image_credit":13,"commune":14,"publie_le":125,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":126,"traductions":127},"cd44bee5-8329-4b8d-8984-981f893bcf30","le-silo-rue-francois-monier-la-maison-des-musiciens-du-mans-a-decouvrir","Le Silo, rue François-Monier : la maison des musiciens du Mans, à découvrir","En octobre, on est passés au Silo, rue François-Monier, et on a été surpris de découvrir ce lieu : dix salles de répétition et un studio d'enregistrement que les musiciens, amateurs ou professionnels, peuvent louer, seuls ou en groupe.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fcd44bee5-8329-4b8d-8984-981f893bcf30\u002F1791407346696-lwawmn.jpg","2026-10-07T21:05:17.167723+00:00","49884d70-0c0c-4597-9fc3-05e00f5c25f6",{"en-US":128},{"_h":129,"chapo":130,"corps":131,"titre":132,"lien_label":133},"a515a73dddeee082","In October, we stopped by Le Silo, rue François-Monier, and were surprised to discover this place: ten rehearsal rooms and a recording studio that musicians, amateur or professional, can rent, alone or as a band.","## Rue François-Monier, the musicians' house\n\nWe were shown around the different spaces of the place, in a quiet, artistic atmosphere.\n\n![The entrance to Le Silo, rue François-Monier](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fcd44bee5-8329-4b8d-8984-981f893bcf30\u002Fvisite-silo-0.jpg)\n\nLe Silo presents itself as the musicians' house, the rehearsal space for artists and bands from the Le Mans area and the Sarthe, designed by musicians for musicians. Passing through, what we discovered above all is that all of this can be rented: you can book a room to rehearse or a studio to record, whether you play as an amateur or a professional, alone or in a band.\n\nLe Silo was born in 2005, at the initiative of Sarthe players in contemporary music. The nonprofit Superforma runs it, and has set up its info-resource center there.\n\n## What you can rent\n\n![The doors of the storage lockers](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fcd44bee5-8329-4b8d-8984-981f893bcf30\u002Fvisite-silo-4.jpg)\n\n- Rehearsal rooms: there are ten, from roughly 20 to 50 m², soundproofed and acoustically treated. Nine are rented by the hour; the tenth is rented by the month and shared among four bands. Each one is equipped with a PA system with three mics, two guitar amps, a bass amp and a drum kit. About forty accessories and a few keyboards are available at the front desk, on request.\n- A recording studio, built into the Green Room, with its control room, a vocal booth and the equipment: enough to record your first demos, a pre-production or a demo reel.\n- Drum gear (cymbal kit, double pedal), by the hour.\n- Storage lockers, for bands that rehearse at Le Silo and want to leave their gear there.\n- Residency packages, to be arranged at the front desk.\n- For Superforma members, take-away sound equipment for an outdoor gig (sound kits, monitor kit, drum mic kit), rented by the day.\n\nTo rent, you have to join the nonprofit, with a mandatory annual membership.\n\n## Not just rooms\n\nIndependent teachers give voice and instrument lessons there. The info-resource center provides information on the local scene, funding programs, rights and distribution. The place also has a 70 m² welcome and break area, a bar, small supplies for sale (strings, picks, reeds, batteries, earplugs), a 150 m² covered terrace, showers and free parking with 80 spaces. It is fully accessible to people with reduced mobility.\n\n![The welcome area](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fcd44bee5-8329-4b8d-8984-981f893bcf30\u002Fvisite-silo-5.jpg)\n\n![The covered terrace](https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fcd44bee5-8329-4b8d-8984-981f893bcf30\u002Fvisite-silo-3.jpg)\n\nFinally, Le Silo hosts workshops and masterclasses: a bass masterclass with Laure Sanchez on Saturday, November 28, 2–5 PM, then “Comment Méta peut devenir ton meilleur allié,” with Antoine Thomas, on Saturday, April 10. The hearing protection molding session and the distorted vocals masterclass are already full.\n\nThis place is well worth a visit: share this article with a musician looking for somewhere to rehearse.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- Address: 27 rue François-Monier, Le Mans. Bus line 13, Monier stop. Free parking.\n- Hours: Monday and Tuesday 2 PM–midnight, Wednesday 11 AM–midnight, Thursday and Friday 10 AM–midnight, Saturday and Sunday 10 AM–8 PM. Open on public holidays, except December 25 and January 1.\n- Booking: by phone or directly at Le Silo's front desk, depending on available slots.\n- Prices: on Le Silo's page on the Superforma website. Mandatory annual membership.\n- Contact: 07 88 19 72 63, lesilo@superforma.fr.\n- [Le Silo on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Fle-silo)","Le Silo, rue François-Monier: Le Mans's house for musicians, worth discovering","Le Silo's page on the Superforma website",{"id":135,"slug":136,"titre":137,"chapo":138,"rubrique":11,"image_url":139,"image_credit":140,"commune":14,"publie_le":141,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":142,"traductions":143},"7e39be44-d9bf-42f3-a8da-454e2859a413","compagnie-contr-pied-la-danse-contemporaine-au-mans-du-cours-du-mercredi-soir-a-paysages-mouvants","Avec la compagnie Contr'pied, de la danse contemporaine du cours du mercredi soir à Paysages mouvants","En octobre, on est allés rencontrer la compagnie Contr'pied dans ses bureaux de la rue de Richebourg. Une compagnie professionnelle de danse contemporaine qui crée des spectacles, joue dans les écoles et donne des cours aux danseurs amateurs déjà confirmés.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fassociations\u002Fcontr-pied\u002F2026-10-06-site-1.jpg","Photo : Clément Szczuczynski (CSZ Photographie) — Cie Contr'pied, Paysages mouvants (Pauline Yvard, Paul Grassin)","2026-10-07T06:00:00+00:00","f57ddf5a-116e-4c22-9d88-3fdadc38b5f9",{"en-US":144},{"_h":145,"chapo":146,"corps":147,"titre":148,"lien_label":149},"d90e5155ae8cf748","In October, we went to meet the Contr'pied company in its offices on rue de Richebourg. A professional contemporary dance company that creates shows, performs in schools and teaches classes for amateur dancers who already have some experience.","## A contemporary dance company\n\nContr'pied has been based in Le Mans since 2015. On paper, it's a nonprofit under the French 1901 law; in practice, it's a live-performance company that creates, produces and tours professional shows. Pauline Yvard, choreographer, dancer and state-certified dance teacher, welcomed us to introduce the company.\n\nFour artists are associated with it, and dance isn't the only thing on the program. Pauline Yvard leads the dance projects. Florian Laze, co-artistic director, is a director, a reciter of contemporary poetry and a lighting designer. Sébastien Le Mentec, a musician and sign painter, leads the visual arts projects. Thomas Guimezanes, a musician and programmer, is in charge, among other things, of the electronics in the set of their latest show.\n\n## No venue of its own\n\nThe company has no space of its own. Its offices are at the maison des associations on rue de Richebourg, and it rents rooms from the City of Le Mans for its classes and workshops: Salle Béranger, the Saulnières studio, sometimes dance studios in Coulaines. Its shows, for their part, are performed wherever they're booked: in halls around the region, outdoors or in schools.\n\n## Paysages mouvants, in La Bazoge in January\n\nIts latest creation brings together two dancers, Pauline Yvard and Paul Grassin, and a live musician, Sébastien Le Mentec. The set is a wall of ten ballot boxes, each two meters tall. Inside, small sculptural landscapes made of mirrors and light begin to move thanks to programmed electronics: the boxes react to one another, and the dancers and the musician have to work with them. The subject of the piece: the landscapes we dream of for tomorrow.\n\nYou can see it on Saturday, January 16, 2027 at L'Envol, the cultural center in La Bazoge. All audiences from age 8, about 55 minutes.\n\nThe company also performs in schools. This season, it's presenting “Toumtoumta: Bal rock,” a show that's “completely wild, built around rock music and dance,” at Michel-Ange school in Le Mans, as part of the City of Le Mans's Local Arts and Cultural Education Contract, with practice workshops around the show. Contr'pied also runs a whole arts and cultural education program: workshops, intensives and camps built around its shows.\n\nFinally, it stages participatory creations with amateurs and professionals, such as “Secooousse,” a happening for about sixty dancers and a drummer performed in public space, or “Segment & points liés,” for about fifty women dancers of several generations and two musicians.\n\n## Classes for experienced dancers\n\nEvery Wednesday evening, from September to June, Pauline Yvard teaches two technical contemporary dance classes at Salle Béranger: an intermediate adult class, then an advanced class for teens and adults, from age 15.\n\nBoth require regular dance practice. And Pauline Yvard pushes her students to try as many experiences as possible: “we push our students to go and see as many different classes as possible to have a rich experience.”\n\nEach season ends with a creation with the amateur women dancers, built from what they experienced during the year.\n\n## Workshops with guest artists\n\nContr'pied also invites artists from all over France for workshops, usually on Sunday mornings, open from age 14 to dancers with regular practice. The next one is on Sunday, November 8 at the Saulnières dance studio, with Susy Chetteau, a dancer, choreographer and educator: two hours on balance, imbalance and falling.\n\nOccasionally, the company offers parent-child workshops, for ages 4 to 10. The approach is different: it's introduction to dance, in pairs with a parent, to “share a special time together around the body and dance.” No date has been announced yet for this season.\n\nThis company is well worth a visit: share this article with someone who dances and is looking for a class in Le Mans.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- **Classes:** every Wednesday from September to June, Salle Béranger, 12 rue Béranger, Le Mans (tram, Lafayette stop, a five-minute walk). Intermediate adults 6:30–7:45 PM; teens (from age 15) and advanced adults 7:45–9 PM. Regular dance practice required.\n- **Workshop with Susy Chetteau:** Sunday, November 8, 10:15 AM–12:15 PM, Saulnières dance studio, 239 avenue Rhin-et-Danube, Le Mans. From age 14, regular practice required. Sign up on the company's HelloAsso page.\n- **Paysages mouvants:** Saturday, January 16, 2027 at 8:30 PM, L'Envol, 28 rue des Hortensias, La Bazoge. From age 8. Online ticketing.\n- **Contact:** contrpied@gmail.com, 06 80 83 53 64.\n- [The Contr'pied company on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Fcontr-pied)","With the Contr'pied company, from the Wednesday evening contemporary dance class to Paysages mouvants","The Contr'pied company's website",{"id":151,"slug":152,"titre":153,"chapo":154,"rubrique":11,"image_url":155,"image_credit":156,"commune":157,"publie_le":158,"event_id":16,"venue_id":159,"association_id":16,"traductions":160},"5c17cd50-5fae-4865-bf66-fa096e213c0e","on-a-ete-a-la-rencontre-de-scelia-a-sarge-une-saison-pour-toute-la-famille","L'Espace culturel SCELIA, à Sargé-lès-Le Mans, une saison dont la moitié pour les enfants","En octobre, on est allés à Sargé-lès-Le Mans rencontrer l'équipe de l'Espace culturel SCELIA. Une saison dont la moitié est pensée pour les enfants, et des élèves qui partagent la scène avec des artistes professionnels.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Flieux\u002Fespace-culturel-scelia-sarge\u002Fespace-culturel-scelia-sarge-1.jpg","Photo : Espace culturel SCELIA (site officiel)","Sargé-lès-Le Mans","2026-10-06T06:00:00+00:00","b1900eb3-d00d-44b9-a517-4ab87a0759bb",{"en-US":161},{"_h":162,"chapo":163,"corps":164,"titre":165,"lien_label":166},"bd3eecc714961246","In October, we went to Sargé-lès-Le Mans to meet the team at the Espace culturel SCELIA. A season that is half designed for kids, and students who share the stage with professional artists.","## A municipal hall open to all\n\nMélissa Rouillon Benitez, who directs and programs the cultural season, welcomed us to present the year ahead. In September, SCELIA's free amateur theater festival hosted 11 troupes and some 1,350 spectators.\n\n## Three houses under one roof\n\nOpened in 2001, the Espace culturel SCELIA brings together the show season, the music, dance, and theater school (about 600 students and 19 teachers), and the La Parenthèse library. It's a service of the town of Sargé, but the team doesn't look at where the audience comes from: “we don't look at where people are from, honestly we don't care.” Everything on offer is open to everyone.\n\n## A season designed for families\n\nHalf of the programming is aimed at young audiences, from babies to teenagers. The rest targets families and general audiences, with special care for those who don't go out much in the evening: some shows are performed on Sunday afternoons, others twice in the same day. “We really try to welcome all audiences, it's our goal to be as open as possible.”\n\n- **Saturday, October 10, 8 PM: season opening.** The team presents the year with humor and music, the company Jusqu'à Maintenant performs “D'ici là,” a duo of dance and words about a romantic encounter, then everyone shares a drink.\n- **During the All Saints' holidays, the Fariboles:** a music and dance show for 6- to 36-month-olds (October 21), a movie-and-snack session (October 22), and the concert “Ça pique !” for ages 4 and up (October 23).\n- **On November 13 and 14,** teens from the school take the stage in “Martin Squelette,” a musical comedy in the style of a detective story. Free, by reservation.\n- **On December 5,** “Jazz Magic” mixes magic and music, at 3:30 PM and 8:30 PM.\n- **On January 16,** the big comedy date: Marine Baousson, Laura Domenge, Christine Berrou, and Camille Giry on the same stage.\n- **On March 19,** the improv match is played in hockey jerseys, on a set-piece ice rink, on the theme of TV series.\n- **On March 20,** the MARSkiri carnival: come in costume from 10 AM, parade through Sargé, and the morning ends with a dance party on the square. Free.\n- **Late May,** the Semaines de la petite enfance, with “Habiter ensemble,” a show about cabins for children under 3.\n\nIn between, theater with “La Revanche de Godzilla,” about self-image and bullying in middle school (February 5), and a day of the Région en scène festival, four shows in a row on January 13.\n\n## Students on the same stage as the pros\n\nWhat we liked most was the link between the school and the season. The students don't just take classes: during the year, they perform alongside the artists who visit, all professionals. On April 7, a participatory concert brings together children from Sargé, the musician Antoine 4mille, and teachers from the school. On April 11, a show about folk dances ends with a dance led by the students. In May, actor and director Matthieu Vanherpe creates “Chaos” with them, tailor-made for the season.\n\nFor parents who are on the fence: this year, the theater classes are full, but there are still spots in music, and the school teaches a lot of instruments.\n\n## Affordable prices\n\nSeveral events in the season are free, and a SCELIA card gives you the reduced rate all season, for yourself and up to five extra seats per show. Prices for each show are on the SCELIA website.\n\nThis venue is really worth a visit: share this article with someone looking for family outings near Le Mans.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- **Address:** 28 rue Didier-Pironi, Sargé-lès-Le Mans, fifteen minutes from Le Mans. Free parking out front, bus line 22.\n- **Tickets:** online on the SCELIA website, at the front desk (closed Monday) or 30 minutes before each show. Credit card, check, cash, Pass Culture.\n- **Contact:** 02 43 76 38 50, scelia@sargeleslemans.fr.\n- [The Espace culturel SCELIA page and all its shows on Sortir au Mans](\u002Flieu\u002Fespace-culturel-scelia-sarge)","The Espace culturel SCELIA in Sargé-lès-Le Mans, a season that is half for kids","The Espace culturel SCELIA's website",{"id":168,"slug":169,"titre":170,"chapo":171,"rubrique":11,"image_url":172,"image_credit":13,"commune":14,"publie_le":173,"event_id":16,"venue_id":174,"association_id":16,"traductions":175},"2d496fa3-c499-4f00-8e77-dea2d34eaa57","la-fabrique-expos-balades-et-ateliers-gratuits-sur-la-ville-durable","À La Fabrique – Rêves de Ville, tout est gratuit pour comprendre la ville durable","Dans un ancien bâtiment EDF du boulevard Anatole-France, La Fabrique parle d'urbanisme, de nature en ville et de transition écologique. Tout y est gratuit, avec beaucoup de propositions pour les familles.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fla-fabrique\u002Frencontre-2026-10-02-9.jpg","2026-10-03T06:00:00+00:00","f01bf51a-c267-41f6-aa81-1e060ca6fe81",{"en-US":176},{"_h":177,"chapo":178,"corps":179,"titre":180,"lien_label":181},"65f78f3fc9ebdd8f","In a former EDF building on boulevard Anatole-France, La Fabrique is all about urban planning, nature in the city, and the ecological transition. Everything is free, with plenty for families.","## EDF service counters turned exhibition hall\n\nIn October, we were welcomed at La Fabrique – Rêves de Ville by Ingrid, development manager, and Morgane, who works on the venue's communications. La Fabrique is part of the urban planning department of Le Mans Métropole.\n\nThe building dates from 1936. It was the administrative building of the Île-aux-Planches gasworks, then EDF offices. The current exhibition hall housed service counters, where people came to pay their bills or top up their electric meters. Bought by the Métropole, the venue opened in October 2019, closed again with Covid, and has only really been alive since 2021. “It's still a fairly young place,” the team sums up.\n\n## The sustainable city, in all its forms\n\nFor a venue devoted to urban planning, ecology quickly became essential: “you can't think about a city's development without thinking about ecological issues.” Urban planning and architecture, but also mobility, waste, carbon footprint, renewable energy, nature in the city: the venue is open to the general public Tuesday through Saturday and shows three to five exhibitions a year, each running one to four months. There is at least one big general-audience exhibition a year; the shorter ones are aimed more at insiders.\n\nAround each exhibition, there's a program: guided tours, workshops, talks, lectures, urban walks. Right now it's “Psychanalyse urbaine : les territoires sont des gens comme les autres,” through January 2, 2027. On the calendar, among other things, a repair café on Saturday, October 10, a stand-up evening with the Greenwashing Comedy Club on Thursday, October 15, and an urban walk from the Mille camp to the Bruyères housing development on Saturday, October 17. Through the rest of the year, shows, lectures, and workshops are added.\n\n## Spring, outdoors\n\nEvery spring, La Fabrique organizes the Mois de la nature en ville: workshops, talks, tours, and walks, many of them outdoors, with the City's gardeners, landscapers, and horticulturists. In 2026, the theme was the nourishing city: meetings with farmers from the metropolitan area, farm visits.\n\n## For classes, professionals, and students\n\nThe venue hosts a huge number of school classes and supports the eco-delegates of middle and high schools. Time is set aside for urban planning and architecture professionals; the Sarthe architects' association meets there every month. The entire second floor, a 400 m² open space, is made available to the École des beaux-arts, whose students work on site.\n\nIf a topic interests you, a small resource center lets you consult books on urban planning and greening cities, with a corner to sit down.\n\nThis place is really worth a visit: share this article with someone who cares about their city.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- **Address:** 5 boulevard Anatole-France, Le Mans.\n- **Hours:** Tuesday through Friday 8:30 AM to 6 PM, Saturday 1 to 6 PM. Closed Sunday and Monday.\n- **Price:** free, “everything we offer.” Exhibitions have free admission; workshops, tours, and walks usually require registration.\n- **Program:** a printed program is published for each exhibition; the La Fabrique page on the Métropole's website also has information.\n- **Phone:** 02 43 83 10 90.\n- [The La Fabrique page on Sortir au Mans](\u002Flieu\u002Fla-fabrique)","At La Fabrique – Rêves de Ville, everything is free to help you understand the sustainable city","La Fabrique on the Le Mans Métropole website",{"id":183,"slug":183,"titre":184,"chapo":185,"rubrique":62,"image_url":186,"publie_le":187,"commune":16,"lien":188},"infolettre-2026-10-02","790 structures, 25 rendez-vous, et Folkiri ce week-end","Un mois après la rentrée, Sortir au Mans change de braquet : on sort de l'écran. Le point en trente secondes, puis le week-end.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Finfolettres\u002F2026-10-02-terrain-bandeau.jpg","2026-10-02T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-10-02",{"id":190,"slug":191,"titre":192,"chapo":193,"rubrique":11,"image_url":194,"image_credit":195,"commune":14,"publie_le":196,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":197,"traductions":198},"e0e7d439-eb43-4d72-a56e-fb30f0006385","som-hockey-le-hockey-sur-gazon-a-la-californie-du-baby-hockey-aux-plus-de-60-ans","Du baby hockey aux plus de 60 ans, le hockey sur gazon à la Californie avec le SOM Hockey","Un mercredi soir au bord du terrain de la Californie : une cinquantaine de licenciés, du baby hockey dès 3 ans, un créneau loisir le vendredi soir ouvert à tous.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factivites\u002Fstade-olympique-du-maine-hockey\u002Fhockey-match-1.jpg","Photo : SOM Hockey (Facebook)","2026-10-01T07:00:00+00:00","e6f3158c-4ba2-4f77-b64e-a42e82cc936b",{"en-US":199},{"_h":200,"chapo":201,"corps":202,"titre":203},"56c1fbf306f0500e","A Wednesday evening at the edge of the La Californie field: about fifty registered members, baby hockey from age 3, and a recreational session on Friday evenings open to everyone.","## A sport few people know\n\nA Wednesday evening in September, at the edge of the La Californie field, rue Henri-Champion. A club member, then its president, introduced us to SOM Hockey. The club was founded in 2018, but people have been playing hockey in Le Mans since 1932. It plays field hockey on the synthetic turf at La Californie, and indoor hockey in winter.\n\nIt has about fifty registered members, and is aiming for sixty this season, thanks to the baby hockey program launched last year. The club is still looking for people.\n\n## From baby hockey to over-60s\n\n- **Wednesday:** ages 6–14 train from 4 to 5:30 PM, and baby hockey, from age 2.5 or 3, runs from 4:45 to 5:30 PM. The two sessions overlap: siblings and parents only have to make one trip.\n- **Friday evening:** a recreational session, open to everyone, with no physical prerequisites, for teens as well as people over 50 or 60, “happy to be able to play and take it easy,” with no competitive spirit.\n- **Seniors:** they play at home every other Sunday.\n\nThere is no age limit, “you can play until 99”: one of the club's players, over 60, plays on the French masters national team.\n\n## What to know before you try it\n\nThe gear: a stick, shin guards that are mandatory and cover the ankle, and often a glove on the left hand. “What's dangerous isn't the cleats like in soccer, it's the ball hits,” someone warns at the edge of the field: hence the shin guards.\n\nFrom early November to February, the club switches to indoor hockey: it travels to tournaments of two or three games in a day. The rules are stricter than on turf: you can't lift the ball, and wooden boards line the court, so it's “a game that stops very, very little.”\n\n## A year-round coach\n\nFor two years, the club has employed Nolan Fernando, a certified sports instructor. He runs the practices and camps, and works in schools and with people with disabilities or in precarious situations.\n\nThis club is well worth a visit: share this article with someone who wants to try a team sport.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- **Address:** La Californie complex, 201 rue Henri-Champion, Le Mans.\n- **Baby hockey:** Wednesday 4:45–5:30 PM.\n- **Youth (ages 6–14):** Wednesday 4–5:30 PM.\n- **Recreational:** Friday evening, around 7 PM (exact time to be confirmed with the club).\n- **School-holiday camps (ages 6–12):** All Saints': October 19, 20, 26 and 27. After that: December 28 and 29, February and April.\n- **Sign-up and prices:** on HelloAsso. Contact: hockeysom@gmail.com or 06 45 78 68 59.\n- [SOM Hockey on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Fstade-olympique-du-maine-hockey)","From baby hockey to over-60s, field hockey at La Californie with SOM Hockey",{"id":205,"slug":206,"titre":207,"chapo":208,"rubrique":11,"image_url":209,"image_credit":210,"commune":14,"publie_le":211,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":212,"traductions":213},"5d29375d-d792-40f6-8b9f-ba718a5ab1a8","rock-o-mans-apprendre-le-rock-au-bar-le-mercredi-soir","Apprendre le rock au bar, le mercredi soir, avec Rock O Mans","Chez Chope et Compagnie, 100 à 140 personnes dansent le rock chaque mercredi. Trois cours à la suite, du débutant au confirmé, et la possibilité de venir seul. On y est passés pendant le cours débutant.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factivites\u002Frock-o-mans\u002Frock-ete-guinguette.jpg","Visuel : Rock O Mans (Facebook)","2026-10-01T06:00:00+00:00","f26338fd-027a-4f98-ad6c-bdad0c235269",{"en-US":214},{"_h":215,"chapo":216,"corps":217,"titre":218},"c977fb60473f07a0","At Chope et Compagnie, 100 to 140 people dance rock every Wednesday. Three classes in a row, from beginner to advanced, and you can come alone. We stopped by during the beginner class.","## Classes in a bar, on purpose\n\nA Wednesday evening in September, at Chope et Compagnie, boulevard René-Cassin. We stopped by during the beginner class of Rock O Mans, the nonprofit that teaches six-count rock. The idea has been the same from the start: hold the classes in a bar rather than a hall. “We never wanted to be in a hall, because with a hall, only the people who already know it's in there come,” explains its founder, who started the classes as a student. At the bar, people who stop in for a drink see dancing, and many end up on the floor.\n\nThe group has been through several bars. It has been here for three years, in a place big enough to hold between 100 and 140 people every Wednesday. It has about 125 members. The hard core, seven or eight friends, has been the same for fifteen to twenty years.\n\n## An evening in three classes\n\nOn Wednesdays, each class lasts 45 minutes and is followed by 15 minutes of open dancing.\n\n- **7:30 PM:** beginner. The basic step and about five moves, always the same ones. You can start any time: “if someone wakes up in October or November” wanting to dance, there's no need to wait for next year. Newcomers mostly arrive in September and January.\n- **8:30 PM:** intermediate.\n- **9:30 PM:** advanced, for people who have done two or three years of rock.\n\nThe last class ends around 10:15 PM, then the floor stays open until about midnight. One payment gives access to all three levels: some people go from beginner straight into intermediate to learn new moves.\n\n## Coming alone is fine\n\nYou don't need a partner. When there aren't equal numbers of leaders and followers, everyone rotates: nobody sits out for more than a minute. Even couples get mixed up, so they can learn with other partners. All ages mix, from teenagers to people over 50, and all backgrounds: “here, you find everything.” The original idea hasn't changed: anyone can come, “whatever their income, whatever their background, whatever their age.” The classes are for teens and adults.\n\n## Other chances to see them\n\nThe nonprofit dances in period costumes, from the 1920s to the 1960s, at the Mans Classic, and has for ten to fifteen years. It also takes on, more rarely, performances for companies, and some members give private lessons: first wedding dance, bachelor and bachelorette parties. In summer, the rock nights continue on Wednesdays at the Gémerie guinguette in Arnage.\n\nThis club is well worth a visit: share this article with someone who wants to learn rock.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- **Address:** Chope et Compagnie, 14 boulevard René-Cassin, Le Mans.\n- **When:** every Wednesday, from mid-September to mid-June. Beginner at 7:30 PM, intermediate at 8:30 PM, advanced at 9:30 PM.\n- **Prices:** per evening or for the year, ask the nonprofit.\n- **Try it:** come at 7:30 PM for the beginner class, alone or with a friend.\n- **Contact:** rockomans@gmail.com or 06 76 74 63 11.\n- [Rock O Mans on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Frock-o-mans)","Learning rock at the bar, on Wednesday nights, with Rock O Mans",{"id":220,"slug":221,"titre":222,"chapo":223,"rubrique":11,"image_url":224,"image_credit":225,"commune":14,"publie_le":226,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":227,"traductions":228},"f0a7a5e3-27e5-4df7-8ed8-d9eb173fd879","acma-caraibes-danses-antillaises-cours-de-creole-et-journee-creole-le-10-octobre","Danser les Antilles au Mans avec l'ACMA Caraïbes, du quadrille au gwoka","En septembre, on était invités à la première réunion de préparation du festival d'Outre-Mer. Au programme de l'association : des cours de danse ouverts à tous, la Journée Créole d'octobre et, au printemps, le festival.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factivites\u002Fassociation-culturelle-mans-antillaise-caraibes\u002Ftambours-festival-2026.jpg","Photo : un groupe de danse invité au Festival culturel d'Outre-Mer 2026 — ACMA Caraïbes","2026-09-27T06:00:00+00:00","c045df24-d0e1-4387-895b-af6de6c97924",{"en-US":229},{"_h":230,"chapo":231,"corps":232,"titre":233,"lien_label":234},"ac5264ec8164bab4","In September, we were invited to the first planning meeting for the Outre-Mer festival. On the nonprofit's program: dance classes open to everyone, the Journée Créole in October and, in spring, the festival.","## A meeting open to volunteers\n\nIn September, at the Novotel des Sablons: ACMA Caraïbes kicked off preparations for the 13th edition of the Festival culturel d'Outre-Mer. The meeting was open to volunteers, and we were invited.\n\nThe Association culturelle Mans antillaise Caraïbes was founded in 2003 to bring the culture of the Antilles and the Caribbean to life in Le Mans. The team was renewed in 2018 with the current president. Each year: the festival (12th edition on May 16 and 17, 2026, at the Étangs Chauds), the Journée Créole in October, a carnival, a New Year's Eve party, a brunch, the Train des Antilles. For 2026–2027, the nonprofit is recruiting dancers, ka or bèlè drum players, and volunteers. The date of the 2027 festival will be announced once confirmed.\n\n## Saturday, October 10: the Journée Créole\n\nIt takes place at Le Kaléidoscope, 9 rue du Cantal, from noon to 10 PM. Free admission, all audiences, all ages. On the food side: a hot Creole dish from 12:30 to 2 PM, then Creole boxes in the afternoon and evening. On the program, according to the poster:\n\n- 2:30 PM: welcome with drums and Creole passport\n- 3 PM: Creole dictation\n- 4 PM: blind test\n- 4:30 PM: quadrille and haute-taille demonstration\n- 4:45 PM: talk and debate on superstitions\n- 6:15 PM: dance demonstration and ka performance\n- 7:15 PM: DJ, until the end of the day at 10 PM\n\nWith the participation of the MKT nonprofit from Dreux.\n\n## Dancing the Antilles all year\n\nThe nonprofit offers two dance sessions a week, open to everyone, of any age, with one special feature: you can join mid-season.\n\n- **Wednesday at Les Sablons:** from 6 to 7:30 PM, quadrille, a figure-based ballroom dance from the Antilles; from 7:30 to 9 PM, the other dances of the Antilles and the overseas territories (bèlè, gwoka, biguine, mazurka, haute-taille).\n- **Sunday in Allonnes:** from 10 AM to 1 PM, the two groups dance together. First class of the season on September 27.\n\nThere is also a Creole language class, on Wednesdays from 3 to 4 PM, at the nonprofit's headquarters.\n\nThis nonprofit is well worth a visit: share this article with someone who wants to dance.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- **Headquarters:** 17 rue des Ardennes, Le Mans.\n- **Journée Créole:** Saturday, October 10, noon–10 PM, Le Kaléidoscope, 9 rue du Cantal. Free.\n- **Dance classes:** Wednesday (quadrille 6–7:30 PM, other dances 7:30–9 PM, at Les Sablons) and Sunday 10 AM–1 PM (Allonnes); confirm times with the nonprofit before coming.\n- **Creole class:** Wednesday 3–4 PM, at headquarters.\n- **How to try it:** write to acmacaraibes@gmail.com or call 06 37 91 68 51. Ask the nonprofit for the membership fee.\n- [ACMA Caraïbes on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Fassociation-culturelle-mans-antillaise-caraibes)","Dancing the Antilles in Le Mans with ACMA Caraïbes, from quadrille to gwoka","ACMA Caraïbes' website",{"id":236,"slug":237,"titre":238,"chapo":239,"rubrique":240,"image_url":241,"image_credit":242,"commune":14,"publie_le":243,"event_id":244,"venue_id":245,"association_id":16,"traductions":246},"e8b9b85c-8d07-4a4f-9932-2c3e87013918","on-y-est-alles-le-vernissage-de-the-yellow-grid-a-la-maison-graphique","On y est allés : le vernissage de « The Yellow Grid » à la Maison Graphique","En septembre, rue Nationale, Gwenaëlle de l'atelier riso_éticc ouvrait la première exposition de Macula Nigra : monotypes fluo, collages et une micro-édition imprimée sur place en risographie. On a écouté le mot d'accueil, puis discuté avec l'artiste et avec elle. Récit d'une soirée, et d'une expo qui se regarde aussi la nuit, depuis le trottoir.","on-y-est-alles","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Fe8b9b85c-8d07-4a4f-9932-2c3e87013918\u002F1790434032953-tjyzdn.jpg","Photo : Sortir au Mans, au vernissage de « The Yellow Grid », Maison Graphique (23\u002F09\u002F2026)","2026-09-26T14:59:06+00:00","a6d35beb-9c09-40f5-a007-a1f92771f65b","e552620b-e0b5-44e4-b747-0289515be0ef",{"en-US":247},{"_h":248,"chapo":249,"corps":250,"titre":251,"lien_label":252},"6e4ac196f07674c6","In September, on rue Nationale, Gwenaëlle of the riso_éticc studio opened Macula Nigra's first exhibition: fluorescent monotypes, collages and a micro-edition printed on site in risography. We listened to the welcome speech, then talked with the artist and with her. The story of an evening, and of an exhibition you can also view at night, from the sidewalk.","## A residency in the middle of a heat wave\n\nIn July, Macula Nigra, an artist and screen printer from the Le Marché Noir studio in Rennes, came to spend a week at the Maison Graphique. The goal: to explore what the scanner of the duplicator, the studio's risography machine, makes possible. “Full riso, analog,” sums up Gwenaëlle. No screens: printed or blank paper that you crumple, fold, lay on the glass. A folded tray and the scanner's light are enough to produce a gradient.\n\nThe result is the micro-edition “The Yellow Grid”: 50 numbered copies, printed in one to four colors on 200 g Extra Rough paper at the riso_éticc studio, in September. Twenty-five are on sale at the Maison Graphique.\n\n## On the wall, a first\n\nThe exhibition is the second stage of the project, and Macula Nigra's first show. On the walls: a series of compositions made between 2025 and 2026 that combine monotype, screen printing, monotype on fluorescent paper, cutting, collage and assemblage. The artist draws from their own repertoire of signs and shapes, “like musical sampling,” and layers them. In the small sleeves set out nearby, there is more figurative work, but born from the same collage gesture: the two answer each other.\n\nThe project is part of France Design Week, which had just started at several venues in Le Mans; programs are available at the entrance. Gwenaëlle also thanked the studio's intern, who is on the project all month.\n\n## An artist from Rennes, a collective of seventeen\n\nMacula Nigra works at Le Marché Noir, in Rennes: a large shared studio built around the printed arts, screen printing, engraving and risography, where seventeen members pool their means of production. The link with Le Mans goes back two years and the Riso Crew project, at the Créa'Lab: each year, Gwenaëlle invites artists from Le Mans and from another city, Brussels, Nantes, then Rennes, to produce an image and put together a small group show, for a single evening. “We got along well,” he sums up.\n\nWho comes to see it? “A bit like the street,” he answers: regulars who know the place, and passersby who, during the installation, stuck their heads through the open door to chat. What he hopes for comes down to one sentence: letting people enjoy the images, “and see everything it can set off in someone's head.” Most of the originals are for sale, along with a portfolio of screen prints and the edition born of the residency.\n\n## A one-year-old venue, a five-year-old studio\n\nThe Maison Graphique opened a year ago on rue Nationale, but the riso_éticc risography studio has been in Le Mans for five years: place d'Alger, then the Créa'Lab, before this address with a storefront, open to everyone. Gwenaëlle comes from public and cultural communications, “for almost twenty years now.” The idea behind the venue: creative residencies for artists, exhibitions around the graphic arts, “an aesthetic you don't necessarily see everywhere,” spanning abstraction, photography, typography and work with color, plus training and workshops.\n\nWith each exhibition, there's a mediation session for school groups, who leave after an introduction to riso. And roughly one introductory workshop a month, with online registration: in the morning for parents and kids, in the afternoon for everyone from age 10. The dates are on the Maison Graphique's website and Instagram.\n\n## Coming back at night\n\nThe fluorescent inks react to black light. The day before the opening, the team tested it in the window: after dark, a timer will switch on the black light and the exhibition will read differently from rue Nationale. “It pops,” promises Gwenaëlle. A second reading of the work, without pushing open the door.\n\n## Getting there\n\n“The Yellow Grid,” Maison Graphique, 90 rue Nationale, Le Mans. Through October 17, 2026: Wednesday and Saturday 2–5 PM, Thursday and Friday 4–6 PM. Free admission.\n\n- [The exhibition page](https:\u002F\u002Fsortiraumans.fr\u002Fevenement\u002Fthe-yellow-grid-exposition-macula-nigra-maison-graphique-2026-09-23)\n- [La Maison Graphique](https:\u002F\u002Fsortiraumans.fr\u002Flieu\u002Fmaison-graphique-le-mans) · [maison-graphique.fr](https:\u002F\u002Fmaison-graphique.fr)","We were there: the opening of “The Yellow Grid” at the Maison Graphique","Maison Graphique website",{"id":254,"slug":254,"titre":255,"chapo":256,"rubrique":62,"image_url":257,"publie_le":258,"commune":16,"lien":259},"infolettre-2026-09-25","Il est encore temps de vous inscrire (et où pousser la porte)","Vous vous étiez promis que cette année, vous vous y mettriez ? Bonne nouvelle : fin septembre, il est encore temps. La plupart des clubs et des associations du Mans acceptent des inscriptions jusqu'à la Toussaint, et beaucoup proposent une séance d'essai gratuite avant de s'engag","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.les-cineastes.fr\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F07\u002Fbandeau-site-forever-young.jpg","2026-09-25T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-09-25",{"id":261,"slug":262,"titre":263,"chapo":264,"rubrique":11,"image_url":265,"image_credit":266,"commune":14,"publie_le":267,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":268,"traductions":269},"f4db7cf5-bda7-463f-8f3d-46191fca0d0a","au-mans-athletisme-72-1-036-licencies-et-une-porte-ouverte-aux-debutants","De 6 à 99 ans, plus d'un millier de licenciés au Mans Athlétisme 72","On a poussé la porte du siège du club, rue de Richebourg. Piste, running, marche nordique, course d'orientation, sport-santé : tour d'horizon d'un club où l'on a de 6 à 99 ans.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Factualites\u002Ff4db7cf5-bda7-463f-8f3d-46191fca0d0a\u002F1791463225760-88u21s.jpg","Photo : Le Mans Athlétisme 72 — Facebook","2026-09-23T07:00:00+00:00","25aa2ed3-9928-4f63-98c2-9594ca865637",{"en-US":270},{"_h":271,"chapo":272,"corps":273,"titre":274,"lien_label":275},"3a2b32ffa645bc9f","We pushed open the door of the club's headquarters, rue de Richebourg. Track, running, Nordic walking, orienteering, sport-health: an overview of a club with members from 6 to 99.","## More than a thousand licensed members, and hundreds of volunteers\n\nIn September, a club employee welcomed us at the Mans Athlétisme 72 headquarters, rue de Richebourg. LMA 72 was founded in 1990. It has more than a thousand licensed members, aged 6 to 99. Around them: a board of sixteen members, about fifty active volunteers, and several hundred people mobilized on race days. A baby athletics program is being considered.\n\n## Track, nature, health\n\nThe club doesn't stop at the stadium.\n\n- **The track.** Athletics is practiced at two stadiums in Le Mans, Île aux Sports and Petit Vaurouzé: from the athletics school for ages 6–13, on Wednesday afternoons, to the competition groups.\n- **Nature.** Running and trail leave from the same starting point; Nordic walking is done out in nature; orienteering changes location every Saturday, announced in advance on the club's website.\n- **Sport-health.** LMA 72 has been a Maison Sport-Santé since 2023: with a medical prescription, it welcomes people far from physical activity to help them get back into it. A Nordic walking group at a very gentle pace meets on Wednesday mornings, and the Maison Sport-Santé also offers other adapted sessions, in halls in Le Mans. Adapted sport also has its place, on the north side, at the university.\n\n## The year's events\n\nThe club runs national events of the Fédération française d'athlétisme: the Run 2k and the Kinder Athletic Day.\n\nIt also lends a hand at races around the region, like the 10 km du Maine, the Foulées de Mulsanne or the Cross Ouest-France: marshaling, safety, start and finish. Dates are on the club's website, relayed on Facebook and Instagram.\n\n## If you're hesitating to start\n\nThe beginner running group is made for that: strengthening, coordination, flexibility and cardio in the form of fun sessions, with one simple goal, running 5 km without stopping and without getting hurt. To try it, the simplest thing is to ask the club which group suits you.\n\nThis club is well worth a visit: share this article with someone who wants to start running (again).\n\n## Getting there\n\n- **Headquarters:** 26 rue de Richebourg, Le Mans (tram line T2, Préfecture stop). Open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9 AM–12:30 PM and 2–5 PM, Friday 9 AM–12:30 PM. Phone: 06 35 77 07 18.\n- **Stadiums:** Petit Vaurouzé (boulevard Charles-Nicolle) and Île aux Sports (boulevard Robert-Schuman).\n- **Beginner running:** Wednesday 5:30–6:30 PM and Friday 6:30–7:30 PM, at Petit Vaurouzé.\n- **Athletics school (ages 6–13):** Wednesday 2–4 PM, at Petit Vaurouzé.\n- **Nordic walking:** Tuesday and Thursday 9:30–11 AM and 6:30–8 PM, parking du Verger; Saturday 9:30–11 AM, parking du Closeau. Health group: Wednesday 10–11 AM.\n- **Prices:** on the club's website.\n- **Sign-up:** on the club's website.\n- [Mans Athlétisme 72 on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Fle-mans-athletisme-72)","From age 6 to 99, more than a thousand licensed members at Mans Athlétisme 72","Mans Athlétisme 72's website",{"id":277,"slug":278,"titre":279,"chapo":280,"rubrique":11,"image_url":281,"image_credit":282,"commune":14,"publie_le":283,"event_id":16,"venue_id":16,"association_id":284,"traductions":285},"227ee97e-f0be-42ae-9687-5d3f4ef6569a","sur-la-sarthe-un-club-d-aviron-fonde-en-1894-et-une-seance-en-salle-en-musique","Le Mans Sarthe Aviron, fondé en 1894 : ramer sur la Sarthe, ou en salle et en musique","On a visité la base nautique du Mans Sarthe Aviron, un des plus anciens clubs de France. On y rame, mais pas seulement : l'AVIFIT se pratique sans bateau, sur rameur et en musique.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fvenue-photos\u002Fbase-nautique-le-mans-sarthe-aviron\u002Fclub-base-vue-de-l-eau.jpg","Photo : Le Mans Sarthe Aviron — avironlemans.com","2026-09-23T06:00:00+00:00","75c03be9-fe3a-4af9-a14f-e2c8bd7f383d",{"en-US":286},{"_h":287,"chapo":288,"corps":289,"titre":290,"lien_label":291},"021277af05f93d1a","We visited the boathouse of Le Mans Sarthe Aviron, one of the oldest clubs in France. You row there, but not only: AVIFIT is done without a boat, on a rowing machine and set to music.","## A club born in 1894\n\nIn September, we went to the boathouse on avenue François-Chancel, on the banks of the Sarthe. We were welcomed by the club's co-president, as the presidency is shared, and by the work-study student who handles promotion and social media.\n\nLe Mans Sarthe Aviron was founded in 1894: it is one of the oldest rowing clubs in France. It has about 130 members, from recreational to competitive, and some rowers go as far as the national and international levels. The club also hosts middle school classes.\n\n## AVIFIT: rowing without the water\n\nThis is the season's new offering. AVIFIT is a group indoor session on an ergometer, set to music. It's not a fitness class like the ones you find at a gym: the programs are designed by the French Rowing Federation (FFAviron), reserved for affiliated clubs, and the coach must hold the federal indoor instructor certificate. Depending on the session, you work on muscle strengthening, cardio, or both. An example session they described to us: 5 minutes of warm-up, 35 minutes of intense effort, 5 minutes of recovery.\n\nThe room has seventeen ergometers. Two sessions are scheduled each week, one of them open to the general public. You don't need to know how to row to get started.\n\n## Getting in a boat for the first time\n\nTo try rowing on the water, the club offers introductory sessions: a welcome and tour of the boathouse, an explanation of the stroke and the boats on land, then launching in a very stable boat, with an instructor. For adults, the outing lasts about 1 hr 30 min; for young people, ages 11 and up, the introduction lasts three hours. You must be able to swim. Dates and conditions are on the club's website.\n\n## Rowing for companies\n\nAnother offering: days for company teams. In the morning, a meeting room; in the afternoon, a rowing session; then challenges and a medal ceremony. The club's idea: rowing is a team sport, built on cohesion, listening, and keeping the rhythm, to “go far and fast together.”\n\nThis club is really worth a visit: share this article with someone who wants to try rowing.\n\n## Getting there\n\n- **Boathouse:** 180 bis avenue François-Chancel, Le Mans. Phone: 02 43 47 30 99.\n- **AVIFIT (general public):** Thursdays from 7 to 7:45 PM, by the year or with a session pass.\n- **Categories:** U15 youth (ages 11 to 14), U17 and U19 juniors (ages 15 to 18), seniors (ages 19 to 26), masters (ages 27 and up), and adult recreational rowing. Registration by the year, prices on the club's website.\n- **Try it:** adult or youth introduction, reservations on the “Découvrir l'aviron” page of the club's website.\n- [The Le Mans Sarthe Aviron page on Sortir au Mans](\u002Fassociations\u002Fle-mans-sarthe-aviron)","Le Mans Sarthe Aviron, founded in 1894: rowing on the Sarthe, or indoors with music","Le Mans Sarthe Aviron's website",{"id":293,"slug":293,"titre":294,"chapo":295,"rubrique":62,"image_url":296,"publie_le":297,"commune":16,"lien":298},"infolettre-2026-09-18","Ce week-end, Le Mans ouvre les portes qu'on ne voit jamais","Ce week-end, Le Mans ouvre des portes qui restent fermées le reste de l'année. Ce sont les Journées du patrimoine, et on a choisi de vous emmener là où on ne va jamais : la Banque de France et son hôtel Mauboussin, les thermes romains transformés en escape game, la tour du Gros-P","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fevent-images\u002Fjournees-europeennes-du-patrimoine-epau-2026.jpg","2026-09-18T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-09-18",{"id":300,"slug":300,"titre":301,"chapo":302,"rubrique":62,"image_url":303,"publie_le":304,"commune":16,"lien":305},"infolettre-2026-09-11","Samedi, c'est la grande braderie. Et merci pour vos 100 propositions","Samedi, le centre-ville se vide sur les trottoirs. C'est la grande braderie , de 9h à 19h : les commerçants bradent la saison dans les rues piétonnes, les particuliers déballent leur vide-grenier sur l'esplanade des Jacobins, et les artisans-créateurs s'installent place de la Rép","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fevent-images\u002Fcandlelight-einaudi-epau-2026.jpg","2026-09-11T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-09-11",{"id":307,"slug":307,"titre":308,"chapo":309,"rubrique":62,"image_url":310,"publie_le":311,"commune":16,"lien":312},"infolettre-2026-09-04","Hockey sur glace, football américain, aviron : la rentrée autrement au Mans","Cette semaine, on vous propose de sortir des sentiers battus. Le foot, le judo, la danse : très bien, tout le monde connaît. Mais Le Mans cache des disciplines qu'on n'imagine pas trouver ici — et qui recrutent justement en ce moment.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fevent-images\u002Fvenue-theatre-les-quiconces.jpg","2026-09-04T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-09-04",{"id":314,"slug":314,"titre":315,"chapo":316,"rubrique":62,"image_url":317,"publie_le":318,"commune":16,"lien":319},"infolettre-2026-08-28","Ce week-end au Mans : La Nuit des Chimères 2026","C'est la rentrée, et avec elle la saison des bonnes résolutions. Se remettre au sport, essayer un instrument, sortir un peu plus souvent, rencontrer des gens du quartier : cette année, vous n'aurez pas l'excuse de ne pas savoir où chercher.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fevent-images\u002Fvenue-place-des-jacobins.jpg","2026-08-28T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-08-28",{"id":321,"slug":321,"titre":322,"chapo":323,"rubrique":62,"image_url":70,"publie_le":324,"commune":16,"lien":325},"infolettre-2026-08-21","Ce week-end au Mans : Les Siestes Teriaki","Grande nouvelle de la semaine : la partie Associations du site est ouverte, avec 305 fiches déjà en ligne — sport, culture, solidarité, environnement, et tout ce qui se passe entre les deux. On vient d'y ajouter la musique du Mans au grand complet : chorales, écoles de musique, f","2026-08-21T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-08-21",{"id":327,"slug":327,"titre":315,"chapo":328,"rubrique":62,"image_url":329,"publie_le":330,"commune":16,"lien":331},"infolettre-2026-08-14","Mi-août, la ville tourne au ralenti et les affiches se font rares. Mais l'essentiel de ce qu'on peut voir en ce moment n'a pas commencé ce week-end : les expositions de l'été courent encore, et plusieurs ferment bientôt. « La Voix des étudiants » de l'ESAD s'arrête le 23 août au ","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fevent-images\u002Fpremolaire-spectacle-epau-2026.jpg","2026-08-14T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-08-14",{"id":333,"slug":333,"titre":334,"chapo":335,"rubrique":62,"image_url":336,"publie_le":337,"commune":16,"lien":338},"infolettre-2026-08-07","Ce week-end au Mans : Margo","Août commence, et Le Mans ne s'endort pas pour autant. Les soirées s'étirent, les cours d'abbaye et les bords de Sarthe se remplissent, et une bonne partie de ce qui se passe cette semaine est gratuite.","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fevent-images\u002Fevents\u002Fle-mans-soirs-d-ete-vendredi-07-aout-dt-aout.png","2026-08-07T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-08-07",{"id":340,"slug":340,"titre":341,"chapo":335,"rubrique":62,"image_url":342,"publie_le":343,"commune":16,"lien":344},"infolettre-2026-07-31","Ce week-end au Mans : Kirikou et la sorcière","https:\u002F\u002Frxpslhyadfopswypqcpv.supabase.co\u002Fstorage\u002Fv1\u002Fobject\u002Fpublic\u002Fevent-images\u002Fjeux-bois-ludiklab-epau-2026.jpg","2026-07-31T08:00:00+02:00","\u002Finfolettre\u002F2026-07-31"]