Artistic Director (Vision)

Since 1988, I have been developing performances and shows in collaboration and dialogue with artists from different disciplines. Centered on a theme, the artistic proposal is written and workshopped around a prioritized disciplinary axis (songs, music, visual art, new media, shadow theatre, etc.). Each designer-performer is invited to share his or her expertise, including the features and questionings inherent in his or her discipline. I fervently advocate this way of developing contemporary dramaturgy and I work the same way with children, with improvisation based on the very essence of theatrical play: humans, space and matter.

I sincerely believe that the children whom we meet during the mediation workshops and the workshop performances are the co-authors of our productions. Young audience members demand active listening from the performers, as little ones do not yet know the conventions of theatre, nor of cultural outings. As such, encounters with this particular audience provide veritable lessons in theatrical play, so sensitive as it is to the experience being lived in the moment. This is why I like repeating that performing for babies is like performing in a bar where no one is drunk! Begun 15 years ago, this creative and research direction is a passion for me. Des mots d'la dynamite's shows bring the entire family together because children come accompanied by their teachers, but also by their parents and grandparents. Our work finds its place in the community when the little ones are initiated to a cultural experience and from this to the experience of being a citizen.

Des mots d’la dynamite is a "word-powered" company. I believe profoundly in the transformative power of speech and poetry. I think that tiny little ones are full-fledged people who are confronted by the same existential questions as adults. For me, there is no doubt that they need words even though they do not yet have all the keys to language nor all the tools to allow them to conceive of ideas. This echoes theories by the psychiatrist Françoise Dolto who says, "A child always has the intuition of his or her story. If a child is told the truth, this truth shapes him or her."

Nathalie Derome 
Co-founder, General and Artistic Director