Cité du Cinéma hosts La Ville dansée: an open-air dance show in Saint-Denis

On June 6, 2025 at 7:30pm, the Cité du Cinéma, an emblematic venue in the midst of a major redevelopment project in Saint-Denis, welcomes a rare event accessible to all: La Ville dansée. Led by Benjamin Millepied, the Paris Dance Project presents a free, open-air choreographic performance as a reflection on hypermodernity and the growing influence of technology on our lives.

Contemporary and urban dance performances to discover in Paris
The best contemporary and urban dance shows in Paris: creations, performances, and dates not to be missed. [Read more]

In a collective work, 15 dancers would perform original choreography by Benjamin Millepied, Dimitri Chamblas, Emmanuelle Huynh, Jamar Roberts and Pam Tanowitz, inspired by the visual universe of the film Koyaanisqatsi and the minimalist music of Philip Glass. This highlight would invite the audience to explore, through body and movement, the tensions between progress, environment and urban space.

What to see this week in Paris? Plays and shows not to be missed
Plays and shows to see this week in Paris: comedies, dance, humor, magic, cabaret... Our selection of must-see events. [Read more]

Conceived as a living choreographic fresco, this initiative would echo the Cité du Cinéma 's ambition to become a cultural and artistic crossroads focused on transmission, creation and dialogue. The show would be part of La Ville Dansée, a program run by the Paris Dance Project, which promotes inclusive , socially committed dance . Through this artistic gesture, the creators hope to offer a critical and poetic look at the imbalances of our contemporary societies.

• To be read
• Top picks for the week of May 4–10, 2026 in Paris and Île-de-France

La Ville Dansée 2025: Benjamin Millepied choreographs a new public space with Philip Glass
Dance, technology and civic debate meet in June in the public space of the Paris region. La Ville Dansée 2025 features a collective choreography to the music of Philip Glass, from June 5 to 8, 2025. [Read more]

Subject to availability, the Cité du Cinéma will be open to the public at 20 rue Ampère in Saint-Denis. This unique event would also be an opportunity to discover the determination of Seine & Watts, the new operating structure, to turn this former temple of the 7th art into an open-air cultural laboratory.

With this performance, contemporary dance invites itself into the public space, bringing artists and citizens together in a scenography as symbolic as it is sensitive. An artistic and political proposition not to be missed.

This article is based on a press release; the performance was not assisted beforehand.

This page may contain AI-assisted elements, more information here.