For his first evening as the new Director of Dance at the Opéra Grand Avignon, Martin Harriague makes a bold choice: to confront current events head-on. Dominating the global stage is a limitless showman who turns the race for the White House into a triumph of showmanship. With cunning, he wields a simplistic rhetoric and masterfully plays on paradoxes: the character is both entertaining and chilling. The bluntness of the message echoes the complexity of the world; the musicality of the language softens the crudeness of the words. The speech celebrates love and brute strength, sings of pride while plunging us into darkness. Yet, as these words toll like a knell, the curtain rises on other narratives—stories of hope, optimism, and adventure from a vibrant and confident America, an America that tears down walls.

The choreographer captures the electric, tumultuous energy of this society in an explosive, exhilarating dance, full of surprises.

America is part of an ongoing creative journey, building upon and expanding earlier works by Martin Harriague, such as Walls (2019) for the Basque-Spanish company Dantzaz, and Americaaa (2020) for the Leipzig Ballet. These pieces trace a path that began in Israel—where he forged the physicality of his dance and his aversion to walls—and culminates at the prestigious Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York in the fall of 2024, where he was in residence during the height of the U.S. presidential election.