Mwendwa Marchand

Mwendwa Marchand is a dancer and choreographer born in Kenya, specialising in dancehall. Her career has been shaped by self-taught practice, travel and collaborative experiences before being consolidated at the Adage training centre, where she deepened her practice through a blend of classical and contemporary techniques. This diversity of approaches now informs a unique choreographic style at the crossroads of urban dance and the contemporary stage.

A recognised performer on the hip-hop and contemporary dance scenes, she has collaborated with several leading figures in dance, including Ousmane Sy on Queen Blood, Amala Dianor on DUB and M&M, and Sandrine Lescourant on RAW. Her work focuses particularly on the interplay between cultures, bodily legacies and forms emerging from underground scenes.

Now artistic director of the Outside company, Mwendwa Marchand is developing a choreographic practice rooted in social dance forms, particularly dancehall, which she helps to bring into dialogue with institutional spaces and contemporary dance styles.

In 2025, she collaborated with Carl Dhélot on her first production, Out/Side, produced by the Outside company and supported by several partners, including the Collectif FAIR-E / CCN de Rennes et de Bretagne as part of the Accueil Studio programme. The piece was performed at the Théâtre National de Bretagne during the 2025–2026 season and subsequently at the Festival d’Avignon Off as part of La Belle Scène Saint-Denis.