Traces of Gounouj

This spe­cial site-spe­cif­ic per­for­mance brings togeth­er dancers Asha Thomas and Robert Corne­jo in an inti­mate duet that offers a sen­si­tive lec­ture on com­mu­ni­ca­tion across gen­er­a­tions. By plac­ing these two artists at dis­tinct, con­trast­ing moments in their lives and careers, the chore­og­ra­phy becomes a liv­ing con­ver­sa­tion where matu­ri­ty and youth meet. Their phys­i­cal dia­logue nav­i­gates the deep-seat­ed dif­fi­cul­ties of find­ing bal­ance, let­ting the human rela­tion­ship play out direct­ly with­in the envi­ron­ment around them. 

While this duet is drawn from excerpts of Gounouj In Situ, it stands as a win­dow into the core themes of Léo Lérus’ broad­er chore­o­graph­ic work. His prac­tice fre­quent­ly draws inspi­ra­tion from the Gwo­ka tra­di­tion and the lush nat­ur­al beau­ty of his native Guade­loupe, explor­ing the island’s nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al abil­i­ty to adapt to change. Through his move­ment research, Lérus explores envi­ron­ments in a del­i­cate nat­ur­al bal­ance and exam­ines how that equi­lib­ri­um is altered by con­tem­po­rary input.

By weav­ing these ideas into the duet, the per­for­mance reflects the com­plex mix of feel­ings around envi­ron­men­tal preser­va­tion — using the move­ment of two dif­fer­ent gen­er­a­tions to jux­ta­pose dis­ap­point­ment and anger with an endur­ing hope and a shared move­ment toward a pos­i­tive future.

This site-spe­cif­ic adap­ta­tion was imag­ined dur­ing Lérus’ Vil­la Alber­tine res­i­den­cy in New York City in July 2026. 

This event is free and open to the pub­lic; rec­om­mend­ed for ages 10 and up. RSVP is encouraged.

SCHED­ULE

• 12:30pm
• 2pm
• 3:30pm

LOCA­TION

Colonels Row, Gov­er­nors Island

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Trained at the Con­ser­va­toire Nation­al Supérieur de Paris (CNS­MDP), Guade­lou­pean chore­o­g­ra­ph­er Léo Lérus spent his ear­ly career per­form­ing inter­na­tion­al­ly with pre­mier com­pa­nies includ­ing Bat­she­va Dance Com­pa­ny, Wayne McGre­gor Dance Com­pa­ny, and Sahron Eyal Dance Com­pa­ny. In 2010, he began cre­at­ing his own work, even­tu­al­ly anchor­ing his artis­tic research in his Caribbean her­itage by blend­ing con­tem­po­rary dance with the tra­di­tion­al spir­it of Gwo­ka. His notable cre­ations include Entropie, Gounouj In Situ, Gounouj, and Ici, cre­at­ed for the Bal­let de l’Opéra nation­al du Rhin in France. A recip­i­ent of the 2026 Vil­la Alber­tine res­i­den­cy in New York, Lérus is an asso­ciate artist at Chail­lot – Théâtre nation­al de la Danse start­ing in the 2026/2027 season.

BILLING CRED­ITS

Chore­og­ra­phy: Léo Lérus in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the dancers 

Dancers: Robert Corne­jo, Asha Thomas 

Chore­o­graph­ic assis­tant: Asha Thomas 

Musi­cal con­cept: Léo Lérus 

Musi­cal com­po­si­tion and inter­ac­tive sound design: Denis Guiv­ar­c’h, Gilbert Nouno, Arnaud Bacharach 

Record­ed per­cus­sion­ist: Arnaud Dolmen 

Cos­tumes: Béné­dicte Blaison 

Pro­duc­tion: Com­pag­nie Zimarèl / Léo Lérus 

PRO­DUC­TION CREDITS

Copro­duc­tion: VIADANSE — Nation­al Chore­o­graph­ic Cen­ter of Bour­gogne Franche-Comté in Belfort / La Fila­ture, Nation­al Scene of Mul­house / CCN — Bal­let de l’Opéra nation­al du Rhin / POLE-SUD Stras­bourg / CNDC Angers / L’Artchipel nation­al scene of Guade­loupe / TROIS-CL Lux­em­bourg / Dis­posi­tif Récif — Karuk­era Bal­let. With the col­lab­o­ra­tion of Moka Production 

A pro­duc­tion cre­at­ed as part of the ​‘Mon­des nou­veaux’ pro­gramme sup­port­ing artis­tic creation. 

Dis­tri­b­u­tion: La Magnanerie

Com­pag­nie Zimarèl / Léo Lérus is sub­si­dized by the Depart­ment of Cul­tur­al Affairs of Guade­loupe. Léo Lérus is an asso­ciate artist of Chail­lot – Théâtre nation­al de la Danse. With the sup­port to the Fund for artis­tic and cul­tur­al exchanges (FEAC), ADA­MI, SPE­DI­DAM and Caisse des dépôts, main sponsor

Pre­sent­ed in part­ner­ship with L’Alliance New York​’s Cross­ing The Line Fes­ti­val as part of INTER­VEN­TIONS, a site-respon­sive, mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary free annu­al per­for­mance series from Gov­er­nors Island Arts that presents local, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al artists and invites audi­ences to expe­ri­ence work made and adapt­ed for the out­doors. Inter­ven­tions is curat­ed by Juan Pablo Siles, Asso­ciate Cura­tor and Pro­duc­er at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island.

L’Alliance New York is an inde­pen­dent, not-for-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing its audi­ence and stu­dents with engag­ing French lan­guage class­es and auda­cious mul­ti-dis­ci­pli­nary pro­gram­ming that cel­e­brates the diver­si­ty of fran­coph­o­ne cul­tures and cre­ativ­i­ty around the world. A wel­com­ing and inclu­sive com­mu­ni­ty for all ages and all back­grounds, L’Alliance New York is a place where peo­ple can meet, learn, and explore the rich­ness of our her­itages and share dis­cov­er­ies. L’Alliance New York strives to ampli­fy voic­es and build bridges from the entire fran­coph­o­ne world to New York and beyond. 

Cross­ing The Line is a city­wide fes­ti­val that engages inter­na­tion­al artists and New York City audi­ences in artis­tic dis­cov­ery and crit­i­cal dia­logue to re-imag­ine the world around us. Cross­ing The Line is pro­duced by L’Alliance New York in part­ner­ship with lead­ing cul­tur­al institutions.