From April 21 to May 10, Régine Chopinot-Cornucopiae invites Alexandre Paulikevitch to a creative residency at the Port des créateurs - Toulon.

With support from Ville de Toulon, ONDA, Ministère de la Culture - DGCA, MC93, Port des créateurs and Cornucopiae.

A public opening will take place on Friday May 9 at 7pm at the Port des Créateurs, Place des Savonnières.

Admission free, confirmation by e-mail to action@reginechopinot.net

Alexandre Paulikevitch was born and works in Beirut. He is a choreographer and dancer.

He could have been a lawyer, but it was dance that he chose, or perhaps it was dance that chose him in Paris. In the 2000s, his encounter with so-called "oriental" dance, Baladi, at the Centre de danse du Marais was decisive, like a promise to explore his Lebanese roots and his femininity: "I was taking a flamenco class at the Centre du Marais when, as I turned the corner, I caught a glimpse of so-called 'oriental' dancers. I was immediately drawn in. At the same time, he studied theater and dance at the University of Paris 8. Returning to Beirut in 2006, contemporary bellydance is at the heart of his teaching and all his creations. Regarded as an exclusively feminine dance, he is one of the very few men to dance it in Lebanon, and in the Arab world, having trained with some of the greatest in Cairo: Dina, Nelly Fouad, Randa Kamel, Aziza, Raqia Hassan. He explores the emancipatory side of his work, from history to the body politic to gender issues. This is what his dance-manifesto pieces cry out: Tajwal (2012), a kind of escape from gendered assignments; Baladi ya wad (2015), a danced cabaret where prostitution, ritual and incense are intertwined; Elgha (2018) about the gang rapes of Tahrir Square. In 2025, Fabienne Aucant, director of Charleroi danse, invited Alexandre Paulikevitch to La Raffinerie for the first residency stage of his creation.

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