Alliance Française of Madras hosts a night of music, dance, and theatre

Crowds akin to a ‘first day first show’ screening of a Rajinikanth flick found themselves enmeshed at the Alliance Française of Madras on the third edition of La Nuit Blanche (The White Night) on October 11. At 3am the following day, at least 3,000 people left the venue after having watched a slate of performances involving song, dance, theatre, and splendour.

La Nuit Blanche 
| Photo Credit:
SHANTANU KRISHNAN

La Nuit Blanche means sleepless night in French. The festival began in Paris around 2002, and is now an annual global phenomenon. Patricia Théry Hart, director, Alliance Française of Madras, said that when they began this event three years ago in Chennai, the aim was to get more people to visit the Alliance campus. This is why they put together a well-curated list of performances — a fusion of French finesse and Tamil panache. This is a practice they continued following for the next two years, leading to a surge in the number of people visiting the festival each year. This year, the theme was based on the play Moulin Rouge!

This time, the outdoor venue saw performances by bands like Office Ganaa and Uru Pannar. The main stage saw theatre plays that won accolades at the Short + Sweet festival by Prakriti Foundation. In line with the theme, contemporary dancer Preethi Athreya debuted her performance Rubber Girl in Chennai. Wild Wild Women, a group of fierce rappers, were also part of the mix. The usually silent library saw people singing to their heart’s content during the karaoke performance and an immersive cube that often splashed the images to techno and dubstep music by Omnivoid and Cursorama stole the show. Fashion designer Ashwin Thiyagarajan’s ensembles grew quite the crowds too as a makeshift ramp was arranged at the entrance of Alliance late in the evening. Despite the night ending at 3am, thousands stayed back, watching the Bommalattam performance.

La Nuit Blanche 
| Photo Credit:
SHANTANU KRISHNAN

Since the performance that began from noon to dawn elicited a sizeable audience, this begs the question ‘Does Chennai need more cool events?’. Srikanth, organiser, Chennai Scene, who was at Alliance confirms this. “The reason why the event was such a success is because there was something for people of all ages. Everyone was there just for the love of art. I saw an older gentleman walk out at 3am. It’s something I haven’t seen before. I’ve seen and been part of organising many events in the city and I do not have to spell it out, but we need more,” he says.

Patricia, the director, says that next year, a new director will take over, but if she had to imagine the setting, it would be a decor out of a French comic book or the landscapes of Provence with fields of lavender. Something to look forward to.