SUN

A French national label dedicated to international artistic cooperation
The International Center for Production and Touring is a new French national label created by the Ministry of Culture to strengthen the global circulation of contemporary artists and artworks.
It is founded on the strategic alliance of four national theatres located north of Paris, in a border region facing Belgium — one of Europe’s most vibrant artistic ecosystems.
Together, these four institutions pool their resources, expertise, and networks to offer a strong and visible point of contact for any international organisation wishing to collaborate with France.

Sofiane Chalal

choreographer dancer

A choreographic language that reinvents the dancing body
Sofiane Chalal belongs to a generation of choreographers who are redefining the limits of the dancing body. Rooted in urban cultures, he transforms the encounter between hip-hop and contemporary dance into a field of experimentation where each movement attempts to grasp the world—its weight, its breath, its shadows and its light.
His creations explore the tension between strength and vulnerability, humour and gravity. What sets him apart is his way of engaging dance as an act of repair: a space where the body, too often reduced to its appearance, regains symbolic and sensorial power.
With XXL, he continues this research with five performers of singular trajectories, united in a shared energy of presence, virtuosity, and lightness. His choreography transcends aesthetic and cultural borders to question how societies shape the way bodies are seen.
Chalal does not argue for tolerance — he proposes reinvention: a world where every body no longer has to justify its right to exist in movement.mouvement.

Rébecca Chaillon

Director performer

A stage language that opens space for queer and racialised bodies
Rebecca Chaillon is a major figure of the French contemporary scene. Her performative work confronts questions of body, race, gender, and LGBTQIA+ representations. She combines the political and the intimate through a direct, often radical, always sensitive stage language.
Her creations challenge norms, shift imaginaries, and highlight identities long marginalised. Through a powerful stage presence and a demanding performative writing, she opens spaces where racialised bodies, queer identities, and minoritised subjectivities become central dramaturgical forces.
Now widely recognised across Europe, Rebecca Chaillon is building a structured international trajectory, combining touring, collaborations, and invitations from major festivals. Her work speaks to partners committed to presenting engaged, inclusive, and socially grounded artistic forms.

Hugues Duchêne

theatre director actor · playwright

A political theatre that confronts power, history and the present
Trained in Political Science in Lille, Hugues Duchêne deepened his artistic practice at École du Nord before joining the Comédie-Française as an actor in training. In 2017, he founded his company Le Royal Velours in Lille, developing a body of work where theatre meets contemporary political realities, history, and civic debate.
His previous creation, Je m’en vais mais l’État demeure, an ambitious long-form piece examining Emmanuel Macron’s first presidential term, toured more than twenty theatres across France for nearly one hundred performances. More recently, L’Abolition des privilèges, a virtuosic solo revisiting the historic night of August 4, 1789 in Versailles, surpassed 200 performances in 2026, confirming Duchêne’s ability to combine political insight, narrative clarity, and strong audience engagement.
Deeply committed to exploring political questions through theatre, Hugues Duchêne is currently preparing a new creation, J’attends peu, j’aspire à beaucoup, a work of political anticipation at the crossroads of theatre and speculative fiction. Set against the horizon of the next fifty years, the piece invites audiences to reflect on power, democracy, and collective futures.

Tatiana Julien

Choreographer dancer

A choreographic practice that questions commitment, collectivity and desire
Graduated from the CNSMDP (Paris National Conservatory) and Université Paris VIII, Tatiana Julien first worked as a performer with choreographers such as Thomas Lebrun, Olivier Grandville and Boris Charmatz. Parallel to her career as an interpreter, she has developed a strong personal body of work that moves between stage productions, site-specific performances and large-scale participatory projects.
Since 2012, she has created more than a dozen pieces, performances and installations (Turbulence, Soulèvement, After, Not Ending, Decay, Une nuit entière co-written with Anna Gaïotti, En fanfaaare!…), often bringing together professional artists and amateur performers. Her work consistently explores questions of collective engagement, the political dimension of bodies, and the role of the spectator as an active citizen rather than a passive observer.
For her new creation Monster Mother, Tatiana Julien investigates notions of monstrosity, desire and reinvented sexuality. Drawing inspiration from pole dance, freak shows and queer cabaret, the piece opens a space where marginalized bodies and non-normative expressions become sites of power, pleasure and transformation. Tatiana Julien is part of the APAP – Feminist Futures network and is currently supported by the European EMERGE programme.

ONE CENTER ONE VISION

opening the borders of creation

The International Center for Production and Touring of SUN – United Stages of the North is driven by a clear conviction: artistic cooperation does not belong to a single territory. It is built “in movement”, at the crossroads of imaginations, practices, and ambitions.

Two hours from Paris and 45 minutes from Brussels, Le Phénix features 4 venues (120 to 760 seats), a studio, and on-site accommodations, gathering over 35,000 spectators annually. A European Center for Creation since 2016, it maintains an ongoing international dynamic, notably through the festivals Cabaret des Curiosités and NEXT, which bridge French, Belgian, and North-European artistic networks.

Located on the French–Belgian border, 1 hour from Brussels and 2 hours from Paris, Le Manège includes 7 venues (180 to 1,100 seats), 12 accommodations, and welcomes around 45,000 spectators each year. Its strong European roots foster long-term collaborations with Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Luxembourg. Le Manège hosts major delegated productions, international co-productions, and long residencies requiring significant technical expertise.

Located 90 minutes from Paris, the MCA welcomes around 40,000 visitors a year. It has two auditoriums, the Grand Théâtre and the Petit Théâtre (seating 1,060 and 300 respectively), a 120-seat black box theatre called New Dreams, a professional recording studio, exhibition spaces and eight guest rooms for artists. A well-established production centre, it supports numerous creative projects in the fields of theatre, dance, jazz (Label Bleu) and the visual arts.

In the heart of the Lille metropolitan area, 1 hour from Brussels and 1 hour from Paris by high-speed train, it includes two venues (432 and 114 seats), a rehearsal space, and a cinema, with nearly 55,000 spectators each year. Its history is shaped by a constant openness to European and international stages, particularly through the NEXT and 100% Magie festivals, and through a strong expertise in accessibility and surtitling.