Maldonne / Leïla Ka

French choreographer Leïla Ka creates in Maldonne a physical and visual confrontation with gendered expectations. Five dancers and forty second-hand dresses transform movements drawn from everyday domestic life into a bodily protest against the demands placed on women's roles - where femininity is allowed to be both tender and ruthless, playful and defiant.

The title refers to a card-game term for a misdeal that forces the game to restart. Ka argues that a woman's position in society is precisely such a misdeal: despite progress, inequalities persist, forcing the struggle to begin anew again and again.

Leïla Ka began her career as a street dancer before moving into contemporary dance, including work as an assistant to choreographer Maguy Marin. Since 2018 she has created her own works. Her solo performance Pode Ser has won multiple awards, To Cut Loose earned her the French critics' prize for choreographic talent, and with Bouffées she won first prize at Danse Élargie at Théâtre de la Ville. Maldonne premiered in 2023 at La Garance - Scène nationale de Cavaillon. In 2023, Ka was also awarded The Bloom Prize by Sadler's Wells in London.