From our special correspondent in Turin (Italy)
Serious things have started for Alvan and Ahez. The French quartet carried out its first rehearsal on the Eurovision stage at the Pala Alpitour in Turin this Thursday afternoon, behind closed doors, as the organizers decided for all the delegations. Apart from brief images posted on TikTok, little has leaked out.
We know, however, that the artists will wear brand new outfits, black with gold embroidery, designed by the Breton stylist Pascal Jaouen, and that the dancer Soleïla Chaou will accompany them on stage. The scenography will involve an imitation stone podium, pyrotechnics (two braziers and flames springing up rhythmically on the basses) and graphic projections on the ground.
A device similar to that of the final of the selection Eurovision France, you decidebroadcast on France 2 in early March, but “bigger, bigger and more spectacular”, underlined in aside to 20 minutes the head of delegation Alexandra Redde-Amiel.
“Like some kind of movie”
During the press conference at the end of the afternoon, the French representatives gave their first impressions. Alvan found the scene “gigantic”. “It’s very impressive, confirmed Marine Lavigne, one of the three singers of Ahez, but despite that, we had the impression of being in the forest, at ease. »
The atmosphere of the scenography, bathed in green, transcribes the spirit of the song, Fulenn, inspired by a Breton legend, that of Katell Kollet. The latter, who “dances with the devil”, is, for Marine Lavigne, the author of the lyrics, a symbol of emancipation and the expression of female desire.
Alexandra Redde-Amiel found the quartet “exceptional” for this first rehearsal: “they are characters, embodied”. She specifies that there are still “lots of things to adjust” because she wants the French performance to be “like a kind of film”, which “brings the legend to life”, by playing the “mysterious and magical” card. It thus reveals that the cinematographic aspect will be underlined in the screen rendering by the use of “scope bars”. “We want something unique to happen, for the public to live an experience”, she adds to justify her “demands”.
A “paced but readable” production
The production should be less jerky and jerky than in Eurovision France, you decide. “We don’t want it to be indigestible. We want there to be rhythm but for it to be readable. The sequence of shots will be sustained, but clear,” says Alexandra Redde-Amiel.
Finally, if several other delegations had to hastily revise their staging because an important element of the decor – a large sun in the background – does not work as planned, the Frenchwoman affirms that this malfunction does not impact the specifications. tricolor fillers. Auspicious elements before the second rehearsal, scheduled for Saturday morning where Alvan and Ahez will try to write a new page in their own legend.