Company Madoki
Haute Couture – A moving collection
A choreography by Josépha Madoki (creation 2025)
A work for 8 dancers
Premiere December 2025
Running time: 60 minutes
Suitable to all audiences
“As an artist, dancer, choreographer, and more specifically a waacker, the world of fashion and haute couture has always been a source of inspiration for me.
I am fascinated by the impact clothing can have on the way I approach movement. Depending on the piece or accessory I choose, the garment can become my play partner—a source of creativity that pushes me to explore new paths in order to execute my gestures. It changes the way I move and navigate through space. More than any other dance style, Waacking has allowed me to explore and play with these codes. This culture is intrinsically linked to the world of fashion, as it draws inspiration—among other things—from Hollywood cinema and silent film stars of the 1940s. Waacking and haute couture share a common aesthetic of elegance, grace, and sophistication.
For the waackers of the time, who came from a marginalized and minority community (the African-American and Latinx gay community), clothing was always a way to exist and affirm their identity. In the often exuberant and avant-garde vision of designers, fashion also questions norms and conventions. Depending on the era, the culture, and the moral context, it can either amplify or challenge perceptions of gender—a dimension that resonates with those facing the heteronormativity of societal codes.
To me, even today, clothing goes far beyond its utilitarian function of merely covering the body. It plays a crucial role in how we wish to be perceived—and are perceived—by others, as well as in how we interact with the world around us.
With Haute Couture, accompanied by eight dancers on stage, I explore the idea of clothing as a tool for the metamorphosis of an individual.”
Josépha Madoki
In this creation, Josépha Madoki connects her two passions: fashion and dance— two forms of artistic expression that have always shared a close and symbiotic relationship. These two fields constantly influence one another and reflect the cultural and social trends of their time.
With Haute Couture, the choreographer uses clothing as a tool for transforming both the body and movement. Clothing also acts as a social marker—a symbol of status that shapes how an individual is perceived and accepted within a group or social space.
Madoki collaborates with fashion designer Mario Faundez and a team of emerging designers to imagine and create garments that embody a refined and sophisticated aesthetic. Sometimes playful partners, sometimes creative elements or sources of constraint, these garments allow the dancers on stage to assert their identities and express their individuality.
Haute Couture is a choreographic creation born from the meeting of choreographer Josépha Madoki and designer Mario Faundez. Conceived as a close dialogue between dance, Waacking, and fashion design, the project places clothing at the heart of the creative process: far beyond simple stage attire, it becomes a vector of movement, a revealer of attitude, and a medium for storytelling.
This collaboration also includes a strong educational component. Master’s students in Fashion Design from Atelier Chardon Savard, where Mario Faundez teaches, are fully integrated into the creative process. The development of the costumes runs through every phase of the piece—dramaturgical and choreographic research, residencies, and costume development. The process allows both dancers and young designers to understand the demands and dynamics of their respective professions.
The project is also a space for reflection on the ecological impact of fashion, notably through upcycling practices, and on the power of clothing as a tool for self-affirmation. The creation explores how garments can become a means of individual and collective emancipation.
Upcoming tour dates
Choreography | Josépha Madoki aka Princess Madoki
Fashion design | Mario Faundez, with the participation of students at Atelier Chardon Savard
Dancers | Rémi Bajrami, Chiara Corbetta, Célia Derrahi, Tomasz Gawecki, Lucie Goudeau, Mariam Kamara, Exaucé Lokebo, Mathis Said
Original music | Naajet
Lighting design | Marine Stroeher
Set design | Marta Pasquetti
Producer | Dirk Korell
Junior producer | Camille Daudet De Windt
Bookings | camin aktion
Production | Company Madoki
Executive production | camin aktion
Co-production | Le Carreau du Temple, Paris ; Compagnie DCA – La Chaufferie, St-Denis ; CCN de Créteil Val de Marne ; Centre de la danse Pierre Doussaint, GPS&O, Les Mureaux
Support | Ville de Paris (creation residency support by Ville de Paris) ; Région Ile-de-France
Residencies | Le Carreau du Temple, Paris ; La Place, Paris ; La Ménagerie de Verre, Paris ; Maison de la Musique/Conservatoire, Nanterre ; CCN Créteil ; Centre de la Danse Pierre Doussaint, Les Mureaux ;
Theatre Simone Signoret, Conflans-Sainte-Honorine
Studio space | CND, Centre national de la danse
Photo © Monika Granatowska