With the Contr'pied company, from the Wednesday evening contemporary dance class to Paysages mouvants

A contemporary dance company

Contr'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.

Four 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.

No venue of its own

The 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.

Paysages mouvants, in La Bazoge in January

Its 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.

You 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.

The 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.

Finally, 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.

Classes for experienced dancers

Every 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.

Both 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.”

Each season ends with a creation with the amateur women dancers, built from what they experienced during the year.

Workshops with guest artists

Contr'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.

Occasionally, 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.

This company is well worth a visit: share this article with someone who dances and is looking for a class in Le Mans.

Getting there

• 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.
• 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.
• Paysages mouvants: Saturday, January 16, 2027 at 8:30 PM, L'Envol, 28 rue des Hortensias, La Bazoge. From age 8. Online ticketing.
• Contact: contrpied@gmail.com, 06 80 83 53 64.
• The Contr'pied company on Sortir au Mans