In our contemporary societies, childhood is treated very differently from the rest of human existence in all areas. Whether in terms of rights, laws, or even the subjects and objects to which it has access, it seems to be deliberately detached from the rest of life.

Behind the often-cited need to protect children from the violent realities of adult life (which children paradoxically know only too well), we can also see the first steps towards systemic control of citizens and the beginnings of a deliberate dispossession of their political power and autonomy. Childhood thus seems to be deliberately confined to a state of incubation, where force and normative violence are exercised until maturity, thus defined as the centre of human life.

Unlike other social minorities, childhood is unique in that it can only be temporary; everyone has no choice but to grow out of it, through the inevitable process of growing up. But we might ask ourselves whether children consider themselves to be children. And whether, in their inevitable transformation, they feel that they are losing precious insights and mysteries that only they can appreciate.

Tumbleweed's fifth creation, Un Monde Réel (working title), is a performance for all audiences that will be performed, lit and sound-designed by a group of 6 to 8 children. Combining choreography, singing and spoken word on stage, the performers will lead the audience into an open space without tiers, to discover a reality of which they are no longer the guarantor or model, and whose reference points have been altered.

Our primary intention with this project is to give a voice to others, but also to use the stage as a means of destabilising our ways of thinking and preconceived ideas. This project follows on from our group creation A Very Eye (created in 2022).

The premiere of Un Monde Réel will take place on 12 and 13 November 2027 at La Raffinerie – Charleroi danse (Brussels, BE). Contact us for more information.

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Un Monde Réel (working title) - a project by Tumbleweed (creation 2027)

Art Direction: Angela Rabaglio, Micaël Florentz
In creation with: Mona Felah, Alice Jumelle, Marion Sage
Creation and Performance : 8 children tba
Support for children: Houda Hamid
Light and Stage Design: Arnaud Gerniers
Co-creation of the Stage design: Juliette Bestandji
Sound Design: Anne Lepère
Dramaturgical support: Hanna El Fakir
Research: Julia Färber
Costumes Design: in progress
Technical Direction: Yorrick Detroy
Administration and Production: Camille Collard
Distribution and Communication: Quentin Legrand (Rue Branly)
Production: Tumbleweed
Coproduction (in progress): Charleroi danse - Centre Chorégraphique de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Les Tanneurs (BE), Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis (FR)
Residency Partners (in progress): Charleroi danse, La Bellone, Théâtre de Liège, Grand Studio, Le Varia, Kaaitheater, C-Takt Dommelhof, La Maison de la Création, l'Ekla, Maison de Quartier Heyvaert, Tada asbl, Campus Saint-Jean Molenbeek, Pierre de Lune, IRAHM, L'école de devoirs de Koekelberg, Maison d'Enfants Reine Marie-Henriette, SRG La Tramontane (BE), Festival4x4 (MEX), Ankata (BF)
With the support of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Grand Studio and the General Commissioner for Children’s Rights

Angela Rabaglio & Micaël Florentz - Tumbleweed are Associated Artists at Charleroi danse – Wallonia-Brussels Choreographic Centre (2026–2029).

Photos (research residencies) © Arnaud Gerniers, Anne Lepère, Marie Viscogliosi, Leslie Artamonow, Quentin Legrand