“Basketball is entertainment! The captain of the Spartans was already convinced of this. So he’s not that surprised to see the players displaying all their art in a theater this weekend. Spectators will no doubt be a little more surprised: the Cergy-Pontoise basketball team will perform at the Louvrais theater on Sunday. By offering this unexpected show, Common Points continues to invent its Art and Sport project. Last January, the national scene had already welcomed players from the French breakdance team for an unprecedented event.
It is within the framework of its Generation(s) Times that the theater in particular allows itself all the audacity. Three times a year, Common Points offers special programming aimed at young people. On the menu of krump, DJ battles, punchline masterclasses and therefore basketball. “With the Spartans we realized that we had common values”, explains Fériel Bakouri, director of the national scene. “Beyond sport, they are already doing a lot of actions for young people. » Mamadou Sy the captain of the team confirms: « we regularly make interventions in schools, to bring our experience, to create a link with the territory, to transmit values. We take great pleasure in sharing. We recognized ourselves in the Common Points approach too, it is a question of reaching out to the population. »
“Bring the public with us”
By transforming Théâtre 95 into a basketball court, athletes and cultural professionals hope to reach a new audience. “The theater allows you to open up even more,” says Mamadou Sy. “The whole team will be there, we will do initiations, demonstrations. “And basketball lends itself well to the exercise according to the player of the Spartans. “With basketball there is always action, it’s intense, we want to give the best of ourselves. Like stage artists, we have a lot of preparation, stress to manage, and beyond the match to win, we have an audience to whom we have to put on a show. Taking the public with us is what gives us motivation! »
Do sport and art offer the same sensations? For Fériel Bakouri in any case they are now inseparable in Val-d’Oise. “This bond that we are building will remain, including after the Olympics”, assures the manager. We will maintain relations with the teams we meet and continue to invent things together on a regular basis. The breaking team has already revived us! The links that are created are very strong, whereas a priori, one would have thought that we were not in the same universe. »
Basketball event with the Spartans of Cergy-Pontoise, Sunday November 27 at 2:30 p.m. at the Théâtre 95 in Pontoise, €5, free for under 18s.