French Contemporary Dance Show Reflet Has Crossed Time Zones On Roller Skates And Hip Hop

As the founder of Aaron Fernandes Entertainment (AFE), Aaron Fernandes operates in that curious space between art and infrastructure, between inspiration and Excel. He is the person trusted by the French Institute in India and the Alliance Française Network to take a show like Reflet (a delicate, multidisciplinary performance blending contemporary dance, hip-hop, roller skating and meditative visual movement) and move it safely, sensibly, and sanely across Indian cities that are not always known for being kind to contemporary art or touring schedules.

Reflet is not the kind of show that arrives with fireworks and celebrity cameos. Instead, it glides (sometimes literally) inviting audiences into a space where different art forms coexist without trying to outdo one another. Floating on his inline skates, freestyle slalom champion and choreographer Xuan Le has teamed up with choreographer and dancer Shihya Peng for the show. It has travelled widely across Europe and Asia and now India, gathering layers of meaning as it goes.

Indian audiences have a complicated relationship with contemporary performance. The word “contemporary” itself has become shorthand for something abstract, inaccessible, possibly confusing. Aaron understands this hesitation well. From his perspective, Reflet works precisely because it doesn’t demand blind faith from its audience. It offers recognisable entry points: hip-hop, skating, striking visuals while gently expanding what contemporary performance can feel like.

Aaron looks at what others might see as an artistic vision and translates it into tangible performance art. It helps that he has done this before... many times, in many countries. Long before bringing French productions to Indian stages, AFE was sending Indian dance companies abroad, planning tours that stretched across continents and weeks, sometimes months. One of the defining moments in Fernandes’ career came with Navdhara India Dance Theatre’s tour of France, which included performances at some of the country’s most prestigious contemporary dance venues.

What emerges from speaking to Aaron is a producer who measures success less by applause counts and more by whether artists feel safe, supported and seen. He talks about backstage moments with the same warmth others reserve for standing ovations. Aaron is clear-eyed about the limitations of India’s arts funding ecosystem and optimistic (carefully so) about the venues and institutions beginning to change the landscape. Excerpts from an interview:

1. How did you get involved with the production of Reflet?

The shows that I produce for the French Institute in India are selected by the French Institute and the Alliance Francaise network. Once they select the show, I look at it from a technical and logistical point of view, and we plan a road map together. But I personally think that this show is a perfect show for India as it combines multiple art forms like hip-hop, skating, contemporary dance, visual arts and lighting, and hence can draw in a wider audience.

Xuan Le and Shihya Peng during a live performance (ETV Bharat)

Audiences for contemporary shows are still being developed in India, and most people associate contemporary with abstract or experimental work and feel that if they come for a contemporary show, then they will not understand anything and it will be weird. So, in my opinion, shows like Reflet that are more accessible are a great way to draw in audiences and develop a following for contemporary work.

It is about taking them through all the different types of contemporary shows that artists have to offer and I think the team at the French Institute and AF network have done a great job in selecting a brilliant mix of shows over the last 3 years that I have worked with them as a producer.

2. How did your collaboration with the French Institute in India and the Alliance Française Network begin? What convinced them that AFE was the right partner to execute the India tour?

I started working with the IFI in 2023 and this is my third year of projects with them. We were selected through a call for applications process and went through the various rounds. I feel the advantage we had was that we had toured dance shows from India to countries like Germany, Canada, Mexico, China, France and others. Some of these tours were 55 days long with 30 shows in 30 cities, so we had the experience of working with international teams and the experience of planning technical and logistics in multiple cities and with different types of venues.

I think the main tour that they were impressed with was a tour to France, AFE planned for Navdhara India Dance Theatre, where we performed in some of the biggest contemporary dance venues across France, with the highlight being 12 shows at Chaillot – Theatre National de la danse in Paris and four shows at Maison de la danse. Over the last 3 years, we have received great feedback from the 13-plus French artists that we have planned tours for in India.

3. Producing a contemporary performance that travels across multiple cities in India is no small feat. What are some unseen complexities that audiences don’t realise go into planning a tour like this?

Each tour has its own complexities. The more cities on the tour, the more the number of people on the tour, the more technically complex the show is, the higher the probability that there will be something that will go wrong. We have had to deal with it all: cancelled flights (the recent Indigo fiasco), non-availability of technical equipment, baggage gone missing, emergency medical treatment where an artist can no longer take flights but only do road journeys... the list goes on.

French performance artist Xuan Le (ETV Bharat)

The key is staying calm, planning in advance and going down to the minutest detail and then having a back up plan and a contingency budget to be able to make quick decisions, always keeping the artist, the quality of the show and the audience experience in mind. We at AFE pride ourselves on being a very hands-on team and diligent planners, that is why we have clients who, once they work with us, will always come back to work with us again.

5. India’s live arts market is expanding rapidly. What gaps or opportunities do you see for international performing arts productions entering the country?

I am very excited with what is happening in the performing arts industry in India. The biggest challenge in the arts and culture industry is that there is a lack of a sustainable funding structure to support arts organisations. Internationally presenting arts organisations and artists get funded by multiple levels of funding: city, state, national and private/corporate. In India, this structure does not exist and there are few organisations that have been presenting work and paying artists (decently).

But now with NMACC opening, the Aditya Birla’s presenting work, PCPA in Bangalore, RIC in Jaipur and new venues opening in Delhi over the next few years, there has to be more opportunity for artists to create work and get paid what we would consider a reasonable amount in todays times. There are definitely going to be more opportunities for not only international but also Indian artists to present their work in India. The key would be for there to be a mechanism for these artists to get funding to produce high quality work.

6. What’s one story from the tour that you think captures the spirit of what you and your team are trying to build in India’s arts ecosystem?

A venue was confirmed just before the artists arrived in India and, of course, everyone was nervous about this. But after the first two days, all their worry or apprehension disappeared because they saw that we knew what we were doing and had all angles covered.

7. Were there any moments backstage when you realised the tour was producing something more than just a series of performances?

For us at AFE, giving the artists not just technical and logistic support but helping them get a true immersive experience in India is always important. When one of the artists say that she has now “found a brother” in one of our team members, or when they say “I don’t want to go back home” or you to come on a holiday to France, this is what being a good producer is about. For us, it is never just another tour.

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