Leaps and bounds seem to define Robin Lamothe, the indefatigable curator of Springback Assembly 2025 in Lyon. His first foray into dance was imitating the moves on a popular music video TV programme as a child. Later, seeing his older brother’s friends working as supermarket cashiers his small village of Morestel, situated between Lyon and Grenoble, he decided to ask his parents if he could enrol in the dance programme at Grenoble’s Stendhal High School. Robin’s parents, both high-level athletes, agreed, and at just 16 years old, he became one of the few boys to pursue the dance programme alongside his studies.
‘At that age, I had the audacity to think that I was already a dancer,’ he confesses. ‘But we mainly learnt about the history of dance, and very little about technique. However, we were obliged to see and write about performances, so I grasped that watching and writing about dance had value too. Even though my technical base was non-existent,’ he continues, ‘I still wanted to dance myself. I auditioned for Maurice Béjart’s school Mudra (now École Rudra-Béjart), the open call having stipulated that they would consider all sorts of different profiles. That audition turned out to be a defining experience: I’d never taken a classical ballet class before, so I began jumping around, imitating what the teacher was doing as best I could. Gradually I became aware that almost everyone else was laughing at me. Being derided so cruelly made me realise I would have to develop a thick skin to survive in the less than caring dance world.’
Leaping over the hurdle without looking back, Robin set his sights on an École supérieure instead of Mudra, and with the support of his parents and after honing his technique in evening classes, he was admitted to the prestigious Conservatoire Nationale Supérieure de Musique et de Danse de Lyon in 2011.
‘Throughout my time as a student though, I continually felt exasperated by the hierarchical system. I knew I had a lot to offer creatively, but youth, at least in France, sets you at a disadvantage. I began to need to make my own pieces, and my ideas were often very ambitious, a bit wacky even. I wanted to make a choreography on a boat, and for another piece, involve a whole multigenerational choir.
Soon after the start of his professional career, Robin felt he was outgrowing his role as a dancer with Héla Fattoumi/Éric Lamoureux. After the pandemic, when artists’ work contracts were so scarce, he realised he needed to change tack. He became one of 20 successful candidates out of 800 hopefuls to begin a masters at Lyon 2 University in Direction de projets et d’établissements culturels internationaux.
His first apprenticeship was as cultural manager in the Alliance Française in Gaborone, Botswana. He went on to become administrator of Théâtre les Bambous in La Réunion, before coming back to France to work as a producer for the National Choreographic Centre of Rennes under the direction of the collective FAIR-E.
‘All these experiences gave me the confidence to believe I could juggle being a dancer and choreographer and still work outside the studio or stage. I love curating, and get a real buzz out of the logistics of production. As far as I’m concerned, all these different roles nourish each other. I still found it odd, however, that I continued to be labelled as “emerging”.’ At 33, Robin laughingly says he can’t wait to be 45 so that people will begin to take his ideas seriously.
And writing? ‘I took my first steps into dance writing in 2022 in a training scheme run by Czech Dance News (now Dance Context Webzine). The course took place in Bergen, Norway, during Oktoberdans festival. Coincidentally, Springback Assembly was also there, and I was bowled over to see a group of 20 animated dance writers interacting with the festival and each other. I immediately thought it was something for me. My application for Springback Academy was successful on the second attempt, and after participating in the 2024 Academy in Darmstadt and attending the Assembly in Budapest later that year, I felt ready to leap in and set up the 2025 Assembly in Lyon.’
At the same time as curating and organising the Lyon Assembly (the largest to date, with 24 participants), Robin also was also hosting a choreographic residence for dancers from Botswana, and, armed with a certificate in digital marketing, completing a course in conceiving and producing podcasts, with the aim of setting up European collaborations and developing new formats.
‘Podcasting really interests me too,’ he continues. ‘My only wish right now is that, with all these projects on the go, I find another person, someone as crazy as me, who is ready to help make these different ideas concrete.’
So let’s throw that notion into the pool of Springbackers. I’m sure there are several ready to team up with ‘Auntie Robin’, the tongue-in-cheek nickname he gave himself during the Assembly where, alongside participating fully in the many activities and debates, he cared for us all, and remained implausibly good-humoured and fun throughout. Robin is a diamond with many shiny facets indeed; let’s hope his home country doesn’t wait until he’s 45 to recognise that, or they risk losing a real gem.