'Paris l'Eté': Summer performing arts festival explores new venues around French capital
Performances staged in unusual settings make for lasting images and memories. By disrupting both the artistic intent and the audience's perspective for the better, the performances have taken the risk of breaking free of the magician's black box and confronting the unstable rawness of the outside world. Under the leadership of Patrice Martinet from 1990 to 2016, the festival saw the main courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides amplify the impact of choreographer Angelin Preljocaj's Empty Moves I and II in 2011, and then the Arenas of Lutetia transform into a curious construction site for the performance Transports exceptionnels (Exceptional Transports), a dialogue between a man and an excavator conceived by Dominique Boivin, in 2012.
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LeMonde
16-07-2025
- LeMonde
'Paris l'Eté': Summer performing arts festival explores new venues around French capital
Imagining Paris and its surroundings as a vast playground and transforming its squares, monuments and parks into performance spaces with the wave of a magic wand has always been the driving impulse of the Paris l'Eté performing arts festival. Since its founding in 1990, the summer event, whose guiding principle then and now has been to delight Parisians who remain in the city, has brought performances to an impressive array of open-air spaces of every shape and size, setting up stages for shows that nearly evoke a holiday atmosphere. Performances staged in unusual settings make for lasting images and memories. By disrupting both the artistic intent and the audience's perspective for the better, the performances have taken the risk of breaking free of the magician's black box and confronting the unstable rawness of the outside world. Under the leadership of Patrice Martinet from 1990 to 2016, the festival saw the main courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides amplify the impact of choreographer Angelin Preljocaj's Empty Moves I and II in 2011, and then the Arenas of Lutetia transform into a curious construction site for the performance Transports exceptionnels (Exceptional Transports), a dialogue between a man and an excavator conceived by Dominique Boivin, in 2012.
Local France
02-07-2025
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French word of the day: Guinguette
Why do I need to know guinguette? Because if you're spending summer in France, especially near a riverbank or on the outskirts of a city, you're bound to stumble upon one. What does it mean? Une guinguette – roughly pronounced oon-geng-get – refers to an open-air drinking and dancing venue, often located near a river or lake and typically featuring live music, string lights, and a distinctly laid-back vibe. These rustic establishments first popped up on the edges of Paris in the 17th and 18th centuries, when working-class Parisians sought weekend escapes. They offered cheap wine, simple food, and a place to dance the night away. Advertisement The name is most likely derived from guinguet , a cheap, sour white wine they served at these establishments. While the golden age of guinguettes was during the Belle Époque, they've seen a revival in recent years, with new guinguettes channelling the same convivial spirit. You'll find both retro-chic spots playing accordion music and trendy riverside venues with DJs and food stands. In Paris for example, guinguette Rosa Bonheur opened its doors in Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in 2008, before opening new locations in Bois de Vincennes, at Port des Invalides and in Asnières-sur-Seine. Use it like this Les dimanches à la guinguette sont devenus notre rituel de l'été. - Sundays at the open-air bar have become our summer ritual. Même les enfants adorent aller à la guinguette : il y a de la musique, des crêpes et beaucoup d'espace pour courir . - Even the kids love going to the guinguette; there's music, crêpes, and plenty of space to run around.
Euronews
21-06-2025
- Euronews
Meet the 2025 winners of the Best Paris Baguette Award
If there is one thing French people are really serious about, it is most likely bread. Baking is almost an art in France. The baguette has even been granted World Heritage Status by UNESCO. For Parisian bakers, the top honour is to win the Best Paris Baguette Award. The 2025 competition featured 187 bakers from the French capital. Their creations were judged by a jury made up of Deputy Paris Mayor Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj, representatives of major professional federations, journalists and four randomly selected Parisians. Judges of this 32nd edition assessed the competing baguettes based on five criteria: appearance, taste, baking quality, crumb and honeycombing. This year's lucky winners are Mickaël Reydellet and Florian Bléas, of the aptly-named La Parisienne boulangerie. Reydellet created his first shop in 2006 and now manages nine bakeries, seven of them in Paris and two in his native Normandy. 'I'm very proud of the teams, because behind this competition is the day-to-day work of the whole staff, and this is not to be overlooked', he told Euronews Culture. Reydellet had already won the contest in 2016. In the past nine years, he worked endlessly to improve his product, despite external challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. 'Wheat harvests change each year. We have to adapt our recipes each time to take this into account ', he explained. 'That's the art of baking.' Like every recipient of the Best Paris Baguette prize, Reydellet and Bléas will have the privilege of delivering their bread to the Élysée Palace during a year. But for him, the French President is a client like any other. 'It's always very interesting to be able to go into the Élysée Palace and serve the most prestigious tables. But we take great care over every single one of our products', Reydellet said. 'Whether it's the President or just another client, we really try to do our job well, and that's what pays off.' Artisans at La Parisienne are no strangers to awards. Reydellet's colleague Mathieu Leveque also won the Best Paris Pastry prize this year, and Aziz Boussaidi earned second place at the contest for the best croissant in the region. After completing its own independent tasting, Euronews Culture can say that Bléas and Reydellet's baguette is a worthy winner. It also largely passes the "Ratatouille" test. As explained by the character of Colette in the 2007 animated Pixar film, a good bread can be recognised by the way its crust sounds. La Parisienne's baguette offers a "symphony of crackle. Only great bread sounds this way.'
