Linda Hayford

If Linda Hayford is recognized as an ambassador of popping, it’s in the meeting of genres and postures that her dance evolves. Initially a fan of funk-inspired stand-up dancing, she came into contact with hype, popping, of course, but also locking, new style and then house, spurred on by the wide variety of styles demanded by team battles. As a member of Paradox-Sal group, initiated by Ousmane Sy, or of the INsideOut company, of which she is the instigator, the dancer and choreographer from Rennes finds in alteration the object of a reflection on identity in perpetual evolution.

From the intersection of aesthetics, Linda Hayford stretches a thread between multiple emotional and physical states, initiating an aesthetic investigation into metamorphosis. Her inaugural solo, Shapeshifting (2016), embodies the power of shifting from one form to another in an intimate fresco of alternating body states. In this quest for transformation, the “switch” – the moment when forms and energies shift – becomes a guiding principle underpinned by a desire to draw closer to the animality of the body. In AlShe/Me (2019, pronounced “alchemy”), the choreographer performs alongside her older brother, Mike Hayford. Years after introducing her to popping, the dancer accompanies her in a duet that emphasizes the transitory nature of the genre, made up of ruptures and isolations.

From this personal research into transient states and forms, the choreographer invents and develops “Shifting Pop” body language. This stylistic, introspective and anatomical protocol focuses on the sensitive awareness of movement with the aim of seeking out highly precise bodily qualities. This gestural approach has informed all the choreographer’s creations since 2015 and is destined to be transmitted “to each and every one”, infusing the bodies of an ever-growing number of performers.

In 2022, Recovering invites three performers to question the body’s transformations after trauma and its ability to mobilize in recovery. Abîmes, the next work to be released in 2026, expands the core group of protagonists by transposing the forms of expression of “Shifting Pop” into an ensemble corpus, placing a single choir in a plural, extimate space.

Linda Hayford is member of collectif FAIR-E, co-director of CCN de Rennes et de Bretagne (National Choreographic Centre of Rennes and Brittany, France) and associate artist at CND, Centre national de la danse.