Centre chorégraphique national de Nantes (CCNN)

© Rita Cigolini

Direction Ambra Senatore

Born in Turin, Ambra Senatore is the heir of an expressive, theatre-like Danza d’Autore. For the past 20 years, from her first solo works to her group pieces, the choreographer, researcher and teacher has employed composition principles based on repetition, fragmentation, and collage, combined with speech, to depict everyday life situations and movements. This approach challenges the incongruity of our existences. Ambra Senatore’s art focuses on connections, presenting dance as a medium for communal living and a means to better understand oneself and others.

Since January 1, 2016, Senatore has been managing the Centre Chorégraphique National de Nantes (CCNN), promoting the curiosity for dance on partner stages (both within the CCN network and independent venues), and in public spaces. With Primevera—jour de danse, the Trajectoires festival, the curieux Jeudis (residencies showcases), and the Explorations dansées (city events to “experience art through dance”) and with the dissemination of her works, the choreographer integrates the CCN into the regional cultural ecosystem on national and international stages.
Every two years, an artist joins the project, and annually, a dozen companies (with at least four regional ones) work at the CCNN or elsewhere through the accueil-studio programme. In addition, cultural actions are conducted within neighbourhoods and on the educational website echos-ambrasenatore.com. This approach allows amateur and professional dancers, families, students, teachers, and “isolated” audiences to have access to a welcoming venue, both online and offline, fostering connections between people, the art created, and its lasting impact.

© DR

The venue

Established in Nantes since 1990, the company founded by Claude Brumachon became the CCNN in January 1992. Four years later, Brumachon invited his loyal performer Benjamin Lamarche, to share the leadership position. For 23 years, the CCNN was shaped by the duo’s artistic identity, characterised by an attention to human connections, and group dynamics. A philosophy shared by Ambra Senatore, who took over in 2016.

Brumachon and Lamarche materialised the “right movement”, which is both physical and emotional, creating a lyrical form of dance. In the Nantes region, they regularly worked with the youth, in an effort to capture the spontaneity of childhood and the intensity of adolescence, which fitted their aesthetics. Under Senatore’s leadership, local and national artists were invited to come to the CCNN, and cultural actions were taken. According to Senatore, these initiatives are crucial for an artistic project that is part of a public policy.

The CCNN is fundamentally tied to its emblematic studio on rue Noire. Built between 1873 and 1875, the Saint-Antoine Chapel, inspired by Italian Romanesque art, was part of a former convent occupied for a hundred years by Capuchin brothers until 1984. Purchased by the city of Nantes, the garden became public, and the venue hosted art exhibitions during the 1990s, before housing the Jacques Garnier studio and the CCN’s office spaces.

Key dates

  • 1992

    Creation of the CCNN – Claude Brumachon serves as director

  • 1996

    Co-management of the CCNN by Claude Brumachon and Benjamin Lamarche

  • 1998

    First edition of Les Connivences de juin, a key event where resident companies were invited to participate

  • 2016

    Ambra Senatore serves as director

  • 2017

    First edition of Primavera – jour de danse, the CCNN’s highlights during the month of May, with several works presented by resident companies

  • 2018

    First edition of Trajectoires, a festival established by the CCNN, with a programme designed by several institutions from the Nantes area

  • 2020

    Implementation of the “associate artists” mechanism.
    1st: Satchie Noro season 2020-21
    2nd: Marion Blondeau/Gabriel Um season 2021-22 and 2022-23

  • 2022

    The CCNN celebrates its 30th anniversary.

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Studio Jacques Garnier
23, rue Noire
44000 NANTES


+33 2 40 93 30 97
https://ccnnantes.fr/fr