“We must make Breton culture accessible to as many people as possible”: At the beginning of June, the cream of Celtic circles will take over the streets of Quimper during Kenleurenn
“Making Quimper the meeting place for the best circles in Brittany”: this is the objective of Kenleurenn, summarized by Mathieu Lamour. On June 6 and 7, 2026, the second round of the national Breton dance championship, supported by the Kenleur confederation, will be organized in the heart of the city of Odet, in partnership with the Cornouaille Festival. On this occasion, the cream of Celtic circles will beat the pavement Ten of the thirteen groups in the Excellence category, the equivalent of 600 dancers, will indeed participate in the costume and artistic events of the championship. A new highlight, less than two months after the first round, around traditional dance, which took place in Vannes during the Tradi’Deiz.
“We have to get out of ourselves”
An event in Morbihan that Éric Vighetti, the president of Cornouaille, takes as an example. He, who hopes to develop Kenleurenn over the years, to make it “a real festival”. In the meantime, the 2026 vintage already promises to be “dense and rich”. An edition whose role is, more than ever, to “transmit” but also, and above all, to “make Breton culture accessible to as many people as possible,” insists Éric Vighetti.
Elected officials from Quimper, representatives of the Kenleur confederation and the Cornouaille Festival, came together to lift the veil on the 2026 Kenleurenn poster. (Le Télégramme/Sophie Benoit)
At his side, the director of Kenleur also evokes this desire, this very necessity, of an “opening to the outside world”. “It’s a challenge that we share with the Lorient Interceltic Festival, with the Saint-Loup de Guingamp,” explains Mathieu Lamour. You have to get out of yourself. We really want to reach an audience who could not or would not go through the doors of performance halls or who even have a priori about our practices.”
To break down barriers and give the championship a more popular image, ensembles are invited to take over public space, with creations specially designed for the street. In Quimper, the circles of Pont-l’Abbé, Spezet, Kerfeunteun, Pluneret, Pommerit-Le-Vicomte and the defending champion Trescalan-La Turballe will play the game, offering free shows on the François-Mitterrand esplanade. The themes will be “engaged, offbeat or anchored in history”, confides Mathieu Lamour, who specifies that this year, Jañ-Maï Havart, Soulchenn, Manoa Mairand and the Breudeur ar Braz will also be in aperitif-concert on the esplanade, to further encourage spectators to “join in the circle”.
Within the Théâtre de Cornouaille this time, the costume tests and stage shows (paid) will see competitors succeed one another, including, also, Elliant, Mûr-de-Bretagne, Saint-Évarzec and Vannes… At the end of this first weekend in June, the top eight in the category will get their ticket to the final in August in Guingamp.
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