When autistic disorders disappear in the moment of a dance on the Millau stage

Les élèves de Sébastien Crochard ont livré une prestation touchante sur la scène du Mandarous. Midi libre – Maxime Cohen

This Monday, while the performances continued on the Mandarous stage, the students with autistic disorders from the Millau dance school, Le Labo, ignored their difference.

Noise, music, large audience… Factors that are harmless for everyone but are less so for children with autistic disorders, who are more sensitive to these external factors than others. However, this Monday, on a huge stage, in front of excited children in the morning and a crowded Place du Mandarous in the evening, Sébastien Crochard's young students took up this challenge. &amp ;quot;A moment out of time, completely insane", for the dance teacher.

Sébastien Crochard's students delivered a touching performance on the Mandarous stage. Free lunch – Maxime Cohen

The director of Le Labo, the dance school he created, has been working for more than a year on an inclusion project through dance with autistic children, thanks in particular to a partnership with the Millau’tisme association. Last summer, these new Lab students participated in their first show. "I was on stage with them, I directed them, explains Sébastien Crochard. There, we prepared this show, like the previous one."

"I cried like a madeleine"

The difference was that he was far from the stage to enjoy the show. "I cried like a madeleine see them… They have progressed so much that I wanted to see how their inclusion was going without me being on stage. It was a real challenge for them." Successful given the touching performance delivered on stage. "I can't come down from my cloud, it’it was the icing on the cake to see my little ones get on the stage and dance normally."

Sébastien Crochard's students delivered a touching performance on the Mandarous stage. Free lunch – Maxime Cohen

Soon training in Millau

The work carried out with these children for more than a year is bearing fruit outside the borders of Millau. "The Cnam is interested to create training at the Higher Education Center for working with children with autistic disorders. Betty Gonzales (the president of Millau’tisme, Editor’s note) has many subscribers on social networks and her videos get views. I received messages from a dance teacher in Paris who would be ready to follow the training, three of my students want to go there later… hellip; It's nice because the work pays off."