Babel returns to Le Bon Marché for a second season 

After dark, Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche becomes the setting for Babel, Mourad Merzouki’s choreography bringing together dance, circus and martial arts. Following its first season in 2025, which welcomed more than 22,000 spectators, the production returns from September 3 to December 31, 2026. Inspired by the myth of the Tower of Babel, it offers a distinctive interpretation of the story through movement, music and scenography.

Merzouki designed the choreography around the distinctive architecture of Le Bon Marché. Audiences are seated across three levels around a 360-degree stage, offering different perspectives on the performers. A tower built especially for the store, along with circus apparatus including a Chinese pole and suspended structures, adds to the scenography. 

The choreography offers a personal and optimistic interpretation of the Tower of Babel myth. Rather than rising towards the sky, Merzouki’s tower descends towards the ground. Ten dancers and circus performers meet on stage without words, accompanied by a score combining classical and electronic music. 

The return of Babel is part of Le Bon Marché’s cultural program, which each year brings art and live performance into the department store. This second season offers audiences the chance to discover or rediscover the work in the unique surroundings for which it was created.