L’Alliance New York Presents "Ad Libitum" by Simon Le Borgne & Ulysse Zangs
Company:
L’Alliance New York
L’Alliance New York announces the North American premiere of Simon Le Borgne and Ulysse Zangs’ Ad Libitum from October 7-9, 2026 at 7:30PM, set for Le Skyroom at L’Alliance New York (22 East 60th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY, 10022). Tickets start at $15 and can be purchased HERE.
A Latin expression, literally meaning “in accordance with one’s wishes or until satiety,” Ad Libitum is a piece about the desire to create, to step outside oneself, to expand. Dancer Simon Le Borgne and musician Ulysse Zangs explore the idea of molting, of emptying yourself through dance and live music. Driven by a musical score of drums, electric guitar, and synths, the performance expresses the need to change skin and shed all substance, as well as the need to embody yourself; to fill your own container.
The artists build a choreographic and musical dialogue, focused on the energy that circulates between people and the rhythms that are central to all human beings: breathing and heartbeats. The result is a performance that allows the viewer to experience humanity in its entirety: decomposition giving way to blossoming; the fall of a body allowing a new spurt of life.
Simon Le Borgne is a dancer and choreographer. He began his training at the Paris Opera School in 2005 and joined the company in 2014. He has performed pieces by Maguy Marin, Merce Cunningham, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin and Hofesh Schechter and participated in the creations of Season’s Canon and Body and Soul by Crystal Pite, Play by Alexander Ekman, The Male Dancer by Ivan Perez, Faunes by Sharon Eyal and Cri de Coeur by Alan Lucien Oyen. Since 2021, he has been working with Yohana Benattar and Hanga Toth on the Nos Gestes, Nos Soins project, developing a documentary performance based on the care actions of people with chronic illnesses or disabilities. From 2023, he joined Tanztheatre Wuppertal, where he worked with Boris Charmatz on his creationLiberté Cathédrale and performed several pieces by Pina Bausch, including Café Müller. At the same time, he became a guest artist at the Gymnase CDCN Roubaix Hauts-de-France, which produced his piece Ad Libitum.
Ulysse Zangs is a French artist who develops his practice at the intersection of sound, movement and nature. As a dancer, he trained at the École de Danse de l’Opéra de Paris and then at the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz, before joining the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, where he danced until 2019. Now a freelance artist, he works with renowned choreographers and directors such as Benjamin Millepied, Philippe Découflé, Dimitri Chamblas, Ersan Mondtag, Simon Le Borgne and Chris Fargeot, among others. As a musician, he composes soundtracks for dance, performances, installations and films, combining live improvisation and recorded productions. In 2024, he created the soundtracks for Ad Libitum by Simon Le Borgne, 3:33 In my Room through the window by Chris Fargeot, Grace by Benjamin Millepied and Manhandle by Gustavo Gomes. Ulysse is also devoting more time to his own music, culminating in the release of his first solo project, Idle Hands Or, launched last autumn as an independent work (recorded and self-produced between 2022 and 2024).
Billing Credits
Choreography: Simon Le Borgne
Musical composition: Ulysse Zangs
Performance: Simon Le Borgne, Ulysse Zangs
Sound: Olivier Charre
Light: Iannis Japiot
Artistic collaboration: Philomène Jander
Outside views: Émilie Leriche, David Le Borgne
Production Credits
Production: Compagnie SLB
Coproduction: Le Gymnase CDCN Roubaix – Hauts-de-France, Centre chorégraphique national de Rillieux-la-Pape – direction Yuval Pick / Accueil-Studio, La Briqueterie CDCN Val-de-Marne, L’Espace Pasolini – Valenciennes, Compagnie SLB, Danse Dense with a residency at Théâtre de Vanves – scène conventionnée d’intérêt national / action financed by the Île-de-France Region.
Patronage: Les Partageurs.
Support: DRAC Hauts-de-France – Ministère de la Culture, Festival de l’impertinence – Sète
L’Alliance New York is an independent, not-for-profit organization committed to providing its audience and students with engaging French language classes and audacious multi-disciplinary programming that celebrates the diversity of francophone cultures and creativity around the world. A welcoming and inclusive community for all ages and all backgrounds, L’Alliance New York is a place where people can meet, learn, and explore the richness of our heritages and share discoveries. L’Alliance New York strives to amplify voices and build bridges from the entire francophone world to New York and beyond.
Crossing The Line is a citywide festival that engages international artists and New York City audiences in artistic discovery and critical dialogue to re-imagine the world around us. Crossing The Line is produced by L’Alliance New York in partnership with leading cultural institutions.
Support for Crossing The Line
Air France, Howard Gilman Foundation, Wescustogo Foundation. L'Alliance New York's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the Support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Support for Ad Libitum
Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, Villa Albertine and the Albertine Foundation through the FUSED program.
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