Du Bout Des Doigts is a fingertip dance performance created and performed by Belgian artists Gabriella Iacono and Grégory Grosjean. Through miniature scenes, live camera projection, and delicate hand movements, the work explores dance across different eras and styles, from ballet and hip-hop to musical theatre and rock-and-roll.

About the Performance

Du Bout Des Doigts is a collaborative work by Belgian artists Gabriella Iacono and Grégory Grosjean, which premiered in October 2020.

The performance follows a man and a woman dancing together through time. Beginning with their fingertips, the artists revisit the art of dance through miniature settings inspired by legendary stages from Broadway to Paris, and from Brussels to Harlem. The work presents a chronological journey through dance, featuring recognisable forms including hip-hop, ballet, rock-and-roll dance and musical theatre, while also reflecting artistic styles associated with Pina Bausch and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

The performance space is made up of more than a dozen palm-sized miniature scenes. A live camera captures the dancers’ fingertip movements and projects them onto a large screen, showing different perspectives, props, and carefully detailed movements. Through these small-scale scenes, the performance presents moments of love, struggle, gatherings, and farewells through the language of dance.

Performers

Gabriella Iacono

Gabriella Iacono is a Belgian artist and co-founder of Made by Hands, ASBL. She created and performs Du Bout Des Doigts together with Grégory Grosjean.

Grégory Grosjean

Grégory Grosjean is a Belgian artist and co-founder of Made by Hands, ASBL. He created and performs Du Bout Des Doigts together with Gabriella Iacono.

About Made by Hands

Made by Hands, ASBL was co-founded in 2020 by Belgian artists Gabriella Iacono and Grégory Grosjean.

The company focuses on exploring the boundaries between body language and dance, creating performance works that combine innovation and artistic expression. Its debut work, Du Bout Des Doigts, was launched in October 2020 and uses fingertip dance to create a miniature performance world.

The work was co-produced with National Theatre of La Roche-Sur-Yon, France and supported by De Grote Post Theatre, Brussels ArtMelting Pot and Archipel 19 Cultural Center. The company has also received funding from the Dance Department of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Why Go

Du Bout Des Doigts offers a different way of experiencing dance by focusing on fingertip movements and miniature scenes rather than traditional full-body choreography. The performance combines live camera projection and detailed hand movements to create a visual experience that brings together different dance styles and eras in a compact stage setting.

About Dance Out of the Box Festival

Curated and presented by Shanghai International Dance Center Theater, the Dance Out of the Box Festival was launched in 2022.

Inspired by the idea of “think out of the box,” the festival focuses on breaking conventional frameworks and boundaries through dance. It explores diverse expressions in contemporary dance and supports artists in developing creative practices across different forms.