By Grégory Piérard Published on June 11, 2021
A grand spectacle by Luc Petit in Parc Louise-Marie from July 16th to 25th.
In the space-time of a magical night, enter the wild revelry imagined for you by director Luc Petit and his team of Nocturnales. A moment out of time, blending history, folklore, and the lofty traditions of stilt walkers, all renewed by a contemporary and unprecedented staging. Dancers, acrobats, jugglers, and artists will haunt the green cathedral of Parc Louise-Marie. This summer, step into legend with Les Folkloriales! “Each evening, from July 16th to 25th, we will welcome the audience at 9:30 PM and 10:30 PM,” say Mayor Maxime Prévot and Anne Barzin, Alderwoman for Tourism Development in charge of festivities. “Spectators can enter via the Remparts de la Vierge. Sanitary measures will be applied according to the directives at the time of the event.”
The non-profit organization Les Nocturnales has become a significant operator in the design, creation, and production of shows enhancing Heritage. The originality of the concept lies in its ability to integrate a genuine citizen movement by calling upon local musicians, artists, actors, as well as folk groups through the implementation of workshops that allow for talent development and relationship building. In Namur, La Frairie Royale des Masuis & Cotelis jambois, the Namur Giants, the Royal Society Moncrabeau “Les 40 Molons,” the Royal Society of the Disciples of St-Hubert de Namur, the Company St-Berthuin des Zouaves de Malonne, the Namur Stilt Walkers, Les Jolies Notes, the Company de la Mante Belge, the Artillerymen of the Namur Citadel, and Pyronix will be involved in the event.
Since 2018, the non-profit organization has staged Les Fééries de Beloeil in the Château park, an event that gathers between 10,000 and 15,000 people each year. “The constraints of the lockdown forced us to cancel the last summer edition,” explains Luc Petit. “And recently, we had to give up the winter version of these Féeries as well as the well-known Christmas Cathedral Tour.” The summer season was used to rebound, imagine, design, produce, and succeed, with the support of the city of Tournai: “Tournai d’été” (Tournai in Summer). It is this success that inspired the idea of L’Eté en Tournée (Summer Tour). “Our project will once again associate history, folklore, and traditions. Our intention is precisely to draw from the roots of each place we will invest in order to stage the major traditional moments of a city’s calendar, its associative troops, its local artists. Collective memory is shared once again, boosted by the most modern technologies and artistic disciplines. The dragon incarnates as a fire-breather, the giants dance to hard rock, the angels dance as tightrope walkers, mapping projections resurrect the city’s feats of history, the luminous score sparkles, and the audience shivers.” In short, a great reconciliation of the population with its public space, its traditions, and its spirit after months of confinement.
