AD LIBITUM to Make North American Premiere at L'Alliance New York
Dancer and choreographer Simon Le Borgne and musician Ulysse Zangs collaborate on a piece driven by drums, electric guitar, and synths at Le Skyroom.
L'Alliance New York has announced the North American premiere of Simon Le Borgne and Ulysse Zangs' Ad Libitum from October 7-9, 2026 at 7:30PM, set for Le Skyroom at L'Alliance New York (22 East 60th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY, 10022).
A Latin expression, literally meaning 'in accordance with one's wishes or until satiety,' Ad Libitum is a piece about the desire to create, to step outside oneself, to expand. Dancer Simon Le Borgne and musician Ulysse Zangs explore the idea of molting, of emptying yourself through dance and live music. Driven by a musical score of drums, electric guitar, and synths, the performance expresses the need to change skin and shed all substance, as well as the need to embody yourself; to fill your own container.
The artists build a choreographic and musical dialogue, focused on the energy that circulates between people and the rhythms that are central to all human beings: breathing and heartbeats. The result is a performance that allows the viewer to experience humanity in its entirety: decomposition giving way to blossoming; the fall of a body allowing a new spurt of life.
Simon Le Borgne is a dancer and choreographer. He began his training at the Paris Opera School in 2005 and joined the company in 2014. He has performed pieces by Maguy Marin, Merce Cunningham, Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin and Hofesh Schechter and participated in the creations of Season's Canon and Body and Soul by Crystal Pite, Play by Alexander Ekman, The Male Dancer by Ivan Perez, Faunes by Sharon Eyal and Cri de Coeur by Alan Lucien Oyen. Since 2021, he has been working with Yohana Benattar and Hanga Toth on the Nos Gestes, Nos Soins project, developing a documentary performance based on the care actions of people with chronic illnesses or disabilities. From 2023, he joined Tanztheatre Wuppertal, where he worked with Boris Charmatz on his creationLiberté Cathédrale and performed several pieces by Pina Bausch, including Café Müller. At the same time, he became a guest artist at the Gymnase CDCN Roubaix Hauts-de-France, which produced his piece Ad Libitum.
Ulysse Zangs is a French artist who develops his practice at the intersection of sound, movement and nature. As a dancer, he trained at the École de Danse de l'Opéra de Paris and then at the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz, before joining the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, where he danced until 2019. Now a freelance artist, he works with renowned choreographers and directors such as Benjamin Millepied, Philippe Découflé, Dimitri Chamblas, Ersan Mondtag, Simon Le Borgne and Chris Fargeot, among others. As a musician, he composes soundtracks for dance, performances, installations and films, combining live improvisation and recorded productions. In 2024, he created the soundtracks for Ad Libitum by Simon Le Borgne, 3:33 In my Room through the window by Chris Fargeot, Grace by Benjamin Millepied and Manhandle by Gustavo Gomes. Ulysse is also devoting more time to his own music, culminating in the release of his first solo project, Idle Hands Or, launched last autumn as an independent work (recorded and self-produced between 2022 and 2024).
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