From 9 June to 6 July, the Festival de dance et des arts multiples de Marseille (FDAmM) will take place in Marseille. This year, the dance festival’s rich and diverse programme will focus on artistic discovery. With one year to go until the European Capital of Culture year, it is also an opportunity to learn more about co-productions with Marseille-Provence 2013.

Robyn Orlin is one artist working with both the FDAmM and MP2013. This year, she will present Walking Next to Our Shoes at the dance festival. With help from an isicathamiya choir (composed of Zulu a capella singers), the choreographer embarks on a journey that starts with shoes. Shoes – like those rural workers who migrated to urban areas were forced to take off to avoid making noise in the hostels they stayed in. The result is a theatrical opera-cabaret, where divas’ voices are interrupted by projections and colours illustrate the choreographer’s critical vision. For the European Capital of Culture year in 2013, Orlin will choreograph the FDAmM’s Opéra Slam. This creation by Nathalie Négro involves adolescents from Marseille’s Bassens and Busserine neighbourhoods.

Amateur artists will also play a role in the festival. The AP-HM choir, made up of medical and administrative staff from the region’s hospitals, will perform in July. This choir is part of the Santé e(s)t Culture(s) project.

Meanwhile, Anne-James Chaton (in residence at Marseille’s Maison de l’Avocat for the Euro-Mediterranean Ateliers programme) will raise the artistic awareness of students at the Collège Edgar Quinet as part of a workshop programme.

The FDAmM will also be present at the Palais de la Bourse from 9 June to 6 July, where the Marseille Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry will host the exhibition Tôt ou Tard (Sooner or Later). The first (and only) performance of Tôt ou Tard originally took place in 1994, and was a collaborative effort bringing together Richard Baquié, Emmanuel Loi and Jean-Marc Montera. These three men, shut into a sculpture, engaged in a battle of words. The FDAmM will bring this performance back to life by putting on an exhibition of documents, videos and eye-witness accounts. Richard Baquié will also feature in the 2013 programme with the Fabrique des Possibles (Possibility Factory) exhibition. This tribute to the artist will mark the opening of the new FRAC (Regional Contemporary Art Fund) building.

More information on the programme is available on the FDAmM’s website. And don’t miss the 2013 edition of the festival, which will feature Fama, a live interdisciplinary installation by Christophe Haleb.

Download the programme in French (PDF)