Aymeric Hainaux draws, writes poetry, the human beatbox is his most powerful practice because it is immediate, simple and radical. François Chaignaud’s creations are based on encounters that hybridise practices : singing, medieval or baroque musical repertoire, urban dance and sacred arts. The result of the meeting between Aymeric Hainaux & François Chaignaud is Mirlitons, a mischievous space for listening and challenging.
While the word “mirliton” can mean a small instrument you blow into, a doggerel verse, a little almond cake or a hat, here the duo are offering something that is more like a playground that sometimes turns into an arena. Together, they try their hand at working with odd rhythms, one produced by the percussion of feet on the floor, the other by lips vibrating against the microphone, at once connected to vibrations from the ground and others in the air. These two sound-making bodies share a ritual that gradually takes the form of an alliance or a confrontation. Rhythm is sovereign here, the mark of an immediate and direct power of expression taking place through breaths, mouths, heels and voices. We follow the undulations of this relationship that emerges with the shared tempi, the ancient support for which is provided by sound and dance.
With his background in the visual arts, (he first turned to cartoon strip at the Beaux-arts d’Angoulême, then to painting) Aymeric Hainaux is invested in a very personal approach of the human beatbox. He creates machine sounds as precise as the famous Roland TR909, and his incomparable technique makes him one of the prominent artists of this art. Hainaux “plays what happens,” and his performances are a music of the present instant, attentive to silence and movement. Without a loop pedal, but the use of a microphone, some bells, a harmonica, and sometimes a cassette player, all exclusively played in real time. He has collaborated with Christine Quoiraud, Tanya Tagaq, Kenzo Kusuda, Oguri, Erik M, and Anne Lise Le Gac. In 2005, he began a solo tour by hitchhiking. This adventure lasted eight years during which he travelled 40 thousand kilometers each year—from Meknes to Copenhagen and from Tallinn to Rome—and staged 700 performances on 3 continents. With banjo player Stéphane Barascud, in 2013, he created the music brut duo Cantenac Dagar, which proposed un rituel pour l’invention d’une sensibilité radicale (Sonic Protest festival, 2017). The group has released a dozen records, and this duo remains Hainaux’s main musical project. The diversity of his projects also brings him to perform in the backrooms of restaurants and art venues. These include, in France, Mixart Myrys, the CND (Centre National de la Danse), Les Siestes Électroniques, the Palais de Tokyo, and the Sonic Protest festival. His label Isola Records, which he has been running since 2011, makes books, cassettes, CDs and records of artists and groups working at the borders of concerts and performances. He also has a practice of poetic writing and publishing. In 2023, he contributed to the soundtrack for Clément Cogitore’s film Goutte D’or.
After graduating in 2003 from the National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music and Dance, François Chaignaud has danced for many choreographers (Alain Buffard, Boris Charmatz, Emmanuelle Huynh, Gilles Jobin). Since his first piece in 2004, he conceives dance as a global expression, his work is characterized by the articulation of singing and dance and a profound relationship to history, evinced in his own work as well as in the collaborations he has formed with multiple artists (with Jérôme Marin, Marie Caroline Hominal or Théo Mercier). Between 2005 and 2016, together with Cecilia Bangolea, he created a series of noteworthy shows that were presented worldwide. In 2021, he founded mandorle productions, whose artistic line is based on the cooperation with other artists such as Nina Laisné, Marie-Pierre Brébant, Akaji Maro, Dominique Brun, and Sasha J. Blondeau. He also creates pieces for large groups of performers: Soufflette in 2018 for the ballet Carte Blanche and t u m u l u s in 2022, then In absentia in 2024, with Geoffroy Jourdain. He recently created the shows Mirlitons with Aymeric Hainaux and Petites joueuses. In 2025, he creates the show Último helecho with Nina Laisné and Nadia Larcher. A portrait is devoted to him at the Festival d’Automne à Paris 2025. In 2026 François Chaignaud is appointed director of the Centre chorégraphique national de Caen en Normandie.
conception and interpretation Aymeric Hainaux & François Chaignaud
artistic collaboration Sarah Chaumette
costumes design Sari Brunel
light conception Marinette Buchy
technical manager Marinette Buchy, Anthony Merlaud
sound operator Jean-Louis Waflart, Patrick Faubert, Aude Besnard
production centre chorégraphique national de Caen en Normandie
centre chorégraphique national de Caen en Normandie is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture – Drac de Normandie, the Normandie region, the city of Caen, the department of Calvados, the department of Manche.
co-productions MC93 – Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Charleroi danse, centre chorégraphique de Wallonie – Bruxelles (BE), Maison de la Danse, Lyon – Pôle européen de création, Festival Next (FR / BE), Theater Rotterdam (NL), Triennale di Milano (IT), KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen Hannover (DE), Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy
with the support of Espace Pasolini/Laboratoire artistique Valenciennes, La Villette, Paris – Initiatives d’Artistes, Malraux, scène nationale de Chambéry Savoie, Les Aires – Théâtre de Die et du Diois, scènes conventionnées, d’intérêt national – « Art en territoire »
special thanks Balakumar, Edouard Prabhu, Prune Becheau
Aymeric Hainaux & François Chaignaud are present at ST26 with the support of Nuovi Mecenati – Fondazione franco-italiana di sostegno alla creazione contemporanea
ph. Martin Argyroglo