Revue des Tumerels

In Old French, "tumer" means to dance, to shake, to fall over backwards. In the company of a collective of tumerels—singing, dancing, transforming—Geoffroy Jourdain and François Chaignaud have conceived a facetious revue that moves between eras and genres, from polyphonic song to varied arts, to close the Portrait and the 2025 edition of the Festival d’Automne.

The tumerels are the members of a community of performers brought together by Geoffroy Jourdain and François Chaignaud, who since 2020 have been building a combined practice of dance and song. Together, they have created the shows t u m u l u s and In absentia, vocal, bodily and moving presentations of Renaissance sacred, This singing and dancing community comes together once again to close this Portrait, under the banner of collaboration and multiple voices. For the occasion, François Chaignaud and Geoffroy Jourdain become Frannie from the Block and Mademoiselle Crapote—in turn performers, singers, pianists and mistresses of ceremony. Mobilizing the gestural and vocal expertise developed by this collective, they organize a joyful deviation using the conventions of cabaret, celebrating the multiplicity of their registers and self-expressions. In a constant interplay with the audience, the performers move from instrument to dance, from ancient music to contemporary hymns.