Villa Albertine and the Albertine Foundation are proud to announce the laureates of the 2026 FUSED Grants which will foster the artistic exchange of contemporary dance between France and the United States. These grants support projects designed for artistic collaboration and help present regional and national tours for the FUSED Grantees which include François Chaignaud & Aymeric Hainaux, Dorothée Munyaneza, Benjamin Millepied & Dimitri Chamblas and others.
Formerly known as FACE Foundation, Albertine Foundation is an American nonprofit organization that, along with the French Institute for Culture and Education of the French Embassy in the US, “promotes artistic, literary and educational exchange and collaboration between creative professionals from both countries.” (Albertine Foundation website). Dedicated to maintaining a strong relationship with France, the two organizations collaborate with individual donors, corporate and other foundations to financially back visual artists, filmmakers, translators, and secondary and higher education institutions.
Dimitri Chamblas’ “takemehome” – Photo by Angel Origgi
“Villa Albertine is a cultural institution that supports exchanges in arts and ideas between the United States, France, and beyond. With outposts in 10 US cities—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Washington, DC—Villa Albertine presents innovative programming nationwide including 50+ customized residencies for international artists, thinkers, and cultural leaders across disciplines each year; a series of cross-cultural dialogues and events; a magazine and podcast; and grants, resources, and incubator programs for professionals in the cultural sphere.” Villa Albertine website.
Musician Aymeric Hainaux and Choreographer François Chaignaud have collaborated to create a duet of beatbox and dance titled “Mirlitons” that will be presented by CAP UCLA at The Nimoy in Los Angeles Friday, October 23 & 24, 2026 at 8 pm. Mirlitons has also been described as a marathon of vocals and dance. The CAP UCLA website says of Mirlitons, the work finds Hainaux and Chaignaud confronting each other with their respective forms – voices and bodies amplified by microphones, loudspeakers, risers, bells and shoes. Melding the radical simplicity of beatboxing with song and dance, Mirlitons is an enthralling tour de force that places rhythm, both in sound and movement, at the forefront.”
Villa Albertine – Dorothee Munyaneza in “Toi Moi Tituba” – Photo by Dajana Lothert, courtesy of Albertine Foundation.
Dorothée Munyaneza, a Rwandan choreographer living in France, will return to the United States following a 2023 tour in Los Angeles and New York with a piece examining the history of enslaved Africans in the Americas. She will perform her work Toi, moi, Tituba at Bill T. Jones’ New York Live Arts Theater October 23 & 24, 2026 at 8 pm. “Starting from a body-archive capable of collecting and honoring memories, Munyaneza builds with composer Khyam Allami a living, sensitive, physical and corporeal archive. She brings together experiences born of the very dispersion. She turns her body into a fragment and a whole; a body that excavates a past of suffering and pain to celebrate, repair and commemorate. Her standing body prevents oblivion and erasure.” Press release
The FUSED Grant will also support the International Dance Festival New Orleans September 10 -13, 2026 at the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in New Orleans. The festival features dance performances, Dance for Camera, Film Screening Workshop, and masterclasses. One performance will feature the premiere of a work by choreographer and dancer Aina Alegre.
Los Angeles Dance Project “City of Dance – Photo by Lore Stressel.
Led by choreographer Benjamin Millepied L.A. Dance Project and Paris Dance Project presented the U.S. premiere of City of Dance in 2026 with free 72 minute long public performances throughout Los Angeles. These performances included works by choreographers Dimitri Chamblas, Madeline Hollander, Benjamin Millepied, Jamar Roberts, and Pam Tanowitz.
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Here are links to more information about three of the events supported by Villa Albertine and the Albertine Foundation:
Mirlitons by Aymeric Hainaux and François Chaignaud
https://cap.ucla.edu/event/mirlitons
Center for the Art of Performance, UCLA
October 23 & 24, 2026
US tour: Chatham, NY, US, Los Angeles, CA, US, New York, NY, US, Chicago, IL, US
Toi, Moi, Tituba by Dorothée Munyaneza
https://newyorklivearts.org/event/toi-moi-tituba/
New York Live Arts
October 23 & 24, 2026
US tour: New York, NY, US, Minneapolis, MN, US
International Dance Festival New Orleans (Aina Alegre)
September 10-13, 2026
https://www.idfnola.com
Creative Grant
Other FUSED Grantees include Barcelona-born Aina Alegre who will participate in a project that is a co-creation between the Choreographic National Center of Grenoble and the NOLA International Dance Festiva. Collaborators Simon Le Borgne and Ulysse Zangs will be making their US debut, as will Olha Dukhovnaya, whose work examines the layered history of Ukrainian dance. Read more about the FUSED laureates in our web article.
For more information about Villa Albertine and the Albertine Foundation, please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Feature inage: Mirlitons by Aymeric Hainaux and François Chaignaud – Photo by Martin Argroglo.
