MONTPELLIER Rachida DATI, the minister of Culture, Carole DELGA, president of the Occitanie region and Michaël DELAFOSSE, mayor of Montpellier and president of the Montpellier Metropolitan, announce the appointment of Jann GALLOIS, Dominique HERVIEU, Pierre MARTINEZ and Hofesh SHECHTER as directors of Agora - Cité Internationale de la Danse.

With this joint announcement, the minister of Culture has given her approval to the team chosen to manage Agora, Cité Internationale de la Danse, which will also be given the label of Centre Chorégraphique National (CCN).
Starting this year, Agora - Cité Internationale de la Danse will bring together Montpellier's CCN and Montpellier Danse in an unprecedented collaboration.

The Metropolitan area of Montpellier, the Occitanie Region and the Ministry of Culture have been working closely together for several months to preserve the legacy of the unique history that links dance to Montpellier, with the aim of protecting and emphasizing it while preserving its distinctive features: a pioneering spirit of innovation and experimentation at a national, European and international scale, and a high level of artistic ambition in the practice of choreography.

Based on an innovative hybrid model, this new structure - housed in an exceptional building which is unique in Europe and is provided by the Montpellier Metropolitan, and backed by more than 6 million euros in consolidated funding from public partners - will be dedicated to the development of choreographic arts in Montpellier, throughout the Occitanie region and beyond. Taking on all the employees of the CCN and Montpellier Danse, it will respond to the shared desire to carry out an ambitious project that can participate in the renewal of public policies in favor of the dance scene, support the creation and invention of new ways of dancing, strengthen the dance field and better integrate the contemporary issues that impact it, whether in terms of production, distribution, planning or training.

A call for submissions for the new management of Agora was launched last autumn; 9 teams applied, and 4 of them auditioned on Wednesday April 9th before a jury made up of representatives of the 3 public partners and both of the organizations. The jury wishes to commend the very high quality of all the projects and the professionalism of the teams who presented their projects with sincerity and commitment. Faced with the complexity of the challenges of this unprecedented project, each team demonstrated its ability to manage a major artistic and cultural institution.

At the end of the deliberations, the project submitted by Jann GALLOIS, Dominique HERVIEU, Pierre MARTINEZ and Hofesh SHECHTER won the unanimous support of the jury through its shared enthusiasm which brilliantly translated into suggestions made for the future of Agora. It outlines an ambitious strategy for Montpellier and the Occitanie region which will further consolidate the region's position in the national and international choreographic landscape. While reinventing Cité internationale de la danse, this new project reconnects with the pioneering spirit of this unique story, spanned over 40 years by Dominique BAGOUET, Mathilde MONNIER, Christian RIZZO and Jean-Paul MONTANARI, whose trailblazing vision and everlasting commitment to dance has been praised by all of the public partners.

Rachida DATI, the minister of Culture, Carole DELGA, president of the Occitanie Region, and Michaël DELAFOSSE, mayor of Montpellier and president of the Metropolitan area, would like to pay a special tribute to Jean-Paul MONTANARI, who devoted over 45 years of his life to Montpellier Danse and to dance.

© All rights reserved