Ben Lamar Gay
Hate In Lyon, three artists participating in the Dance Biennale were victims of a violent racist attack.
By Sonya Faure
Published on 09/28/2025 at 2:31 p.m.
Verbal abused and beaten outside a bar in Croix-Rousse on Friday, September 26, singer and choreographer Dorothée Munyaneza, musician Ben LaMar Gay, and poet Julian Knxx filed a complaint. Despite everything, they insisted on returning to the stage the following day.
In the show Version(s), which they performed over four evenings at Villa Gilet as part of the Lyon Biennale, choreographer and singer Dorothée Munyaneza, born in Rwanda, and Chicago musician Ben LaMar Gay dissect masculinity and what men do and do not pass on to their sons. The violence we receive and pass on, but also how black bodies are particularly vulnerable. At the end of their performance, at 11 p.m. on Friday, September 26, they left the theater accompanied by poet and filmmaker Julian Knxx and went to a bar in Croix-Rousse to ask for the address of a restaurant that would serve late.
Chloé Siganos, head of performing arts at the Centre Pompidou, a partner of the Biennale, recounts: "They were accosted by drunk people who shouted at them: 'We love Trump! Do you like Donald Trump? Go home, you dirty niggers!' The three artists left the restaurant without responding, but the four men followed them, some of them threw them to the ground and hit Ben and Julian. Dorothée was crying and screaming for help. No one called the police." They managed to escape and ordered a taxi to take them back to their hotel. Alerted to the incident, the management of the Dance Biennale accompanied them to the emergency room during the night. Ben LaMar Gay got away with a splint on his ankle and two days off work.
A “show of resistance”
The next day, Chloé Siganos accompanied the three artists to the police station to file a complaint for “violence committed in a group” and racial insults. “They were too shocked to speak publicly or write anything,” she explains. “So the Biennale, Villa Gillet, and Centre Pompidou issued a joint statement condemning these serious acts.” Published on the Biennale website, the statement condemns “this intolerable violence, which [...] reminds us how racism continues to permeate and harm our society.” Grégory Doucet, the city's mayor, condemned the attack and assured the three artists of his “support” and ‘solidarity’: “Lyon draws its strength from its values of humanism, equality, and respect. It will never give in to racism. In the face of hatred, let us remain united.” Former Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas, who has just announced his candidacy for mayor, also reacted on social media: “Lyon is and will remain a land of culture, openness, and respect. Racism is a poison that has no place in our city.”
Despite the shock, the artists were determined to continue with the performances, and as soon as she left the police station, Dorothée Munyaneza rejoined writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr on stage, whom she had invited to the Biennale for a discussion on the theme of “Making room for new bodies.” “It was extremely moving,” says Chloé Siganos. "We often talk in debates and performances about the violence, tension, and extreme vigilance to which racialized bodies are subjected. Unfortunately, reality had just provided a perfect illustration of this. They revisited the attack, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr expressed his anger, but he also found the right words to denounce and repair. We had brought together artists from all over the world at the Biennale, from Chicago, Lagos, and London, and we thought we had created a safe space to talk and reflect together. All of that was shattered." But Dorothée Munyaneza and Ben LaMar Gay will continue to tour their performance, which they already considered a “show of resistance.” Version(s) will be performed at the Théâtre de Chaillot in Paris from October 2 to 4, and Ben LaMar Gay will perform on October 7 at the Dynamo in Pantin.
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