The Institut Français en Inde (French Institute in India), in collaboration with the Embassy of France in India and the Alliance Française network, successfully presented the French Performing Arts Tour 2025 — a landmark edition reaching 8,364+ spectators across 20+ cities nationwide. Organised in partnership with local venues, festivals, and cultural institutions, the tour fostered artistic exchange and strengthened Indo-French cultural collaboration.
Building on the momentum of previous editions, the 2025 edition featured four productions spanning music, cinema, and contemporary performance: David Walters, Paris Qui Dort, Reflet, and Elevation. Alongside performances, several cities hosted workshops and artist interactions, creating opportunities for deeper engagement with local audiences and professionals.
The primary objective of the tour was to support the circulation of contemporary French creation in India while reinforcing long-term partnerships with Indian cultural stakeholders. Across cities and formats, the 2025 edition reaffirmed the power of live performance to create shared experiences and deepen cultural dialogue between France and India.
DAVID WALTERS
French-Caribbean artist David Walters’ Soul Tropical tour traveled to eight cities from 16th June to 6th July as part of the global celebration of music and cultural exchange, drawing over 2,500 spectators overall. His Soul Tropical tour blended Afro-Caribbean rhythms with soul, funk, and electronic elements, infused with local Indian sounds in select performances. Each concert celebrated musical diversity and community spirit, leaving audiences with powerful and memorable experiences.
The tour followed two distinct formats. In the first five cities, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Pune, and Hyderabad, David Walters performed with his band, presenting songs from his latest album, Soul Tropical. In the remaining three cities, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Jaipur, Walters engaged in short artistic residencies with local musicians, introducing sitar, sarod, tabla, and electric veena into Walters’ Afro-Caribbean soundscape. The tour stood out for its inclusivity, intergenerational audiences, and the seamless blending of Caribbean rhythms with Indian classical and folk traditions.
PARIS QUI DORT
The Indian audience experienced an extraordinary fusion of cinema and live music during the Paris Qui Dort tour, where René Clair’s 1925 silent film came alive with dynamic percussion from the talented French drummer Stéphane Charlé, alongside technician Eric Gauthier Lafaye. Blending film projection with live music and improvisation, the performance offered a contemporary interpretation of silent cinema while inviting audiences to experience the rhythm and narrative of the film in a new way. The tour also included workshops and discussions that allowed audiences and students to engage directly with the artist and explore the creative process behind the ciné-concert format.
The tour spanned 11 cities in India from 23rd October to 17th November: Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Pondicherry, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, and Bangalore, reaching over 1,765 spectators in total. Several performances drew strong audience turnout, including a full house opening in Delhi and a sold-out final show in Bangalore.
REFLET
The contemporary dance performance Reflet by Compagnie Xuan Le toured India from 25 November to 17 December 2025, blending contemporary dance with hip hop, roller skating, and an electronic score by Jules Evrard. Performed by Xuan Le and Shih-ya Peng, the duet explored balance, tension, and human connection through fluid movement and striking visual imagery. The tour also featured workshops that gave dancers and students the opportunity to exchange directly with the artists and discover their unique choreographic language.
From Trivandrum to Mumbai, Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Goa, Reflet captivated audiences across six cities and reached more than 2,800 spectators. The performance drew a full house in Jaipur, while its presentation at the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa introduced the piece to an even wider audience in a vibrant festival setting. Workshops held in several cities brought together over 80 participants, reinforcing the educational and exchange dimension of the project and contributing to the strong reception of the tour among local dance communities and cultural partners.
ELEVATION
Closing the French Institute in India’s performing arts touring season, Elevation brought together two striking contemporary works in a powerful Franco-Indian artistic encounter presented from 15 January to 3 February 2026. The spectacle paired Approach 17. Opening by internationally acclaimed choreographer Yoann Bourgeois, structured around a white staircase and exploring the delicate moment before the fall, with Dialogue au mât by Lucas Struna of Compagnie ISI, inspired by the traditional Indian discipline of Mallakhamb. Through movement, balance, and gravity, the two pieces created a compelling dialogue between architecture and body, tradition and contemporary creation.
The performances were presented in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Delhi, attracting more than 1,350 spectators. The open-air presentation in Bangalore, organized with the Hubba Festival, sparked lively interactions with the audience while Ahmedabad’s performance at Kanoria Arts Centre welcomed a diverse community of artists, students, and performing arts enthusiasts. The tour concluded with a full house at the Lodhi Art District Festival in Delhi, where the monumental urban setting provided a spectacular backdrop for the performance and left audiences captivated by its gravity-defying choreography.