Essenti'Elles Festival

Essenti'Elles Festival: Dance by Women in Vieux-Boucau

The Essenti'Elles Festival in Vieux-Boucau-les-Bains is a unique event on the French cultural scene. Created in 2021 under the name Festival Essentiel as a music festival, it underwent a radical transformation in 2025 to focus exclusively on contemporary dance and become the first festival in France dedicated to female choreographers.

An Outdoor Dance Festival

For two days, Vieux-Boucau transforms into a huge open-air dance stage:

• 16 dance performances spread throughout the village
• 14 free performances accessible to all
• Professional companies taking over the streets, public squares, and village stages
• Varied formats: contemporary dance, hip-hop, dance-theater, performances, and site-specific creations

Dance by Women

By adopting the feminine plural, the festival affirms a strong commitment:

• Exclusively female programming: all pieces presented are by female choreographers
• Visibility for female creators: highlighting the work of female choreographers, who are still too often under-represented in festival programming
• Diversity of aesthetics: from classical to contemporary, from hip-hop to contact improvisation

A Collective and Locally Rooted Event

The Essenti'Elles Festival is the result of a collaboration between numerous stakeholders: the City of Vieux-Boucau, the Animation Committee, the Department of Landes, the associations Landes Musiques Amplifiées and Chantons sous les Pins, the MACS community of communes, and the Landes Atlantique Sud Tourist Office. This partnership network ensures strong territorial roots and maximum accessibility for both residents and vacationers.