Maud le Pladec is one of the most important figures in the new generation of French choreographers.

She creates high energy dance to the powerful and raw sound of Dark Full Ride by Julia Wolfe, cofounder of the music group Bang on a Can. In this North American premiere on MCA Stage, five dancers respond and interact to live music performed onstage by four drummers from TaCTus Ensemble.

“She makes dance as one dreams of seeing it: embracing the music, blending with it and opening up to unbridled imagination.”

—Fukuoka Now, Japan

“What is a wild democracy?”

—Maud Le Pladec

Le Pladec was inspired by the manifest radicalism of the music, explaining, “There is something quite revolutionary in the energy of this piece.” She uses that intense energy to explore her own philosophical and political questions, conjuring up moments of collective belonging where individual “voices” are simultaneously independent and joined to one another without ever being harmonic. Logical impulses dissipate as the dancers transform continuously, moving together and then falling away with an intense physicality driven by the urgent sound.

Strobe lights and a prop gun will be used during the performance.

At the request of the artist, there will be no late seating.