Mellow 

1. Soft, sweet, and juicy because ripe. 

2. Softened and made gentle, understanding, and sympathetic by age and experience. 

To mess  

3. to handle or play with something carelessly (or vigorously) 

1. to make dirty or untidy / syn : disarrange 

2. to interfere with 

4. to take an active interest in something or someone 

“Mellow mess” is an occasion for two dancers, Elisabeth and Pénélope, to take the stage and do what they want to do.  

They want to enjoy togetherness. They want to be seen. They want to play. They want to take their time. 

They are taking pleasure in dance and music.  

Elisabeth was born in the sixties. She’s a former priest, currently studying fine arts.  She’s a partial wheelchair user and she recently got interested in dancing.  

Pénélope is part of Generation Z. She’s a wannabe professional dancer. She provoked the meeting, excited to see what would happen.  

Together, they exchanged impressions and stories about their relationship to their body; on being a woman, on being young, on being old. The performance re-enacts some key moments of their encounter: enjoyable dances, meditative moments, bathroom habits resembling rituals, their (skin)care for each other and the results of long dialogues translated into movement.  

The intergenerational duet invites the witnesses to mess with their personal and collective ideas around age and ability, encouraging taking an active interest in them, playing with them and generating questions on those sometimes stigmatized topics.  

« Mellow mess » advocates that dance empower beings and their bodies at all stage of learning.  It is a marvelous space for experimentation, attempts, trials...with a precious corollary – the encounter.