Toulouse: passed through the James Carles choreographic center, the dancer Sarah Toumani is now realizing her American dream
If, at the age of 18, Sarah Toumani had not joined the James Carles choreographic center in Toulouse, she might not be, today, a professional dancer in the United States.
In the life of Sarah Toumani, there was a decisive meeting. That of Solomon Dumas, an American dancer from the Alvin Ailey company. It was in November 2014. “He came to lead an international workshop at the James Carles choreographic center in Toulouse, where I was learning classical, modern, contemporary and jazz dance in the second year… I immediately fell in love with the technique. modern American. It was a revelation, ”says Sarah Toumani, 26 years old. From that moment, the dancer will do everything to join the Alvin Ailey school in New York. “It was my number 1 goal and Solomon Dumas will help me a lot to achieve it,” she continues.
So much so that in August 2015, Sarah’s dream came true. She puts her ballet flats for the first time on American soil and immediately joins the Alvin Ailey school. “I graduated in May 2016”, adds the artist, who then obtains a one-year work visa, “that’s how I started dancing as a professional”.
At the same time, the young woman discovers the hip-hop culture “very present in the United States” and benefits from a scholarship to join the Peri Dance school, where she goes “ex-for a year in street dance”.
his first dance steps
at 4 years
Sarah Toumani took her first steps as a dancer at the age of 4, “at the Catherine S school in Poujol-sur-Orb, in Hérault. I started off with the greatest of luck, thanks to the mother of one of my primary school friends, a soloist at the Madrid ballet. She wants after school classes. I asked my parents to go. It was obvious! Sarah remembers.
Born in Béziers on April 11, 1995, little Sarah was not destined for such a career because “I come from a family far removed from dance”, she says. But that won’t stop him from succeeding. It is not for nothing that Billy Elliot remains his reference film. “For him too, nothing was won. I grew up in a very small village. My parents were afraid that I would have a career as a dancer. It was not easy. But if we believe in it, if we work, there is no reason that it does not work. Besides, my father calls me today My little Billy Elliot, ”Sarah slips.
“here I feel free”
His first years in the United States will not be the most obvious. Already there is the language problem. “I had trouble with the American accent which had nothing to do with that of the teachers in France. I manage to make myself understood but in return it was difficult for me to follow, ”recalls Sarah. Also, she will integrate an English school for a year “to become perfectly bilingual. “
What does he like about the United States? “It’s to feel free. America is more open to the arts and dance. Everyone has a chance here. When Beyoncé does an audition, anyone can show up. It’s awesome. In Paris, that would never happen ”. Besides Sarah Toumani is not deprived of it, “but I was rejected because of my height”: 1 m 54, not big enough therefore to dance alongside the diva.
Six years after leaving the Pink City, Sarah Toumani lives in Brooklyn “in a shared apartment”, because of the exorbitant rents. This is the main black point. “In Toulouse, I had an apartment for me at 450 € and here for 850 $ I have a room. “
In the meantime, the dancer returned to France, to give solo shows. “I performed in my parents’ village to pay tribute to the place where I started dancing”. Today, Sarah Toumani is waiting for an artist visa to pursue her American dream and “Continue to stand up to do what I love”, she concludes.