The Crush Tour traveled through eight Alliances françaises in Latin America. Marie-Charlotte, what inspired you to come up with this tour and take your podcast beyond French-speaking borders?

Marie-Charlotte Danchin: It all started with a combination of circumstances, but also a very personal story. I've always been deeply attached to the Spanish language and Latin American culture: I studied Spanish, traveled extensively in Latin America, and met my partner there, at the Alliance française de Buenos Aires in 2005. Two years ago, we started thinking about a family trip of several months to this continent of our hearts. That's when I came across Yann by chance on LinkedIn. It intrigued me, because it wasn't at all the type of profile I usually exchange with. And it also awakened something in me, as I had studied international cultural project management before retraining. So I wrote to him to tell him about my travel project and my desire to take the Crush podcast from city to city, within the Alliances françaises, meeting mixed couples to talk about intercultural love. He immediately said yes, and it took us almost a year to build the project together, from editorial line to financing. During this tour, I wanted to explore what it means, or doesn't mean, to fall in love when you don't speak the same language, when you don't have the same cultural references, when you've grown up in very different countries.

Each recording took place in public. How did you experience these encounters in very different cities and cultural contexts, from Mexico City to Barranquilla, via San José or Pereira?

Marie-Charlotte Danchin: The reactions of the audience were very different depending on the city and the culture. Each time, the recording took place in the same way, but the atmosphere changed completely from one country to another. Some audiences were very shy, others more expressive. For me, the two extremes were Medellín and Barranquilla. In Barranquilla, the audience was very demonstrative, very comfortable talking about seduction, flirting, dancing, male-female relationships. In Medellín, on the other hand, I had more difficulty getting the conversation going, as the audience was much more reserved and introverted. Guatemala and El Salvador, on the other hand, were very open and playful, while in Costa Rica, the atmosphere was more formal. These differences really shaped the nature of the exchanges each time, and the way intimacy and love could be expressed publicly.

Each time, the recording took place in the same way, but the atmosphere changed completely from one country to another. Some audiences were very shy, others on the contrary more expressive.

The podcast Crush explores stories of love, connection and vulnerability. How do these themes resonate in Latin America, where the relationship to emotion and intimate speech is very strong? Have you perceived any differences or surprises in reception?

Marie-Charlotte Danchin: For me, talking about love isn't limited to the intimate: love is also political. Behind every story there's much more at stake than the relationship between two people. What struck me most in Latin America, and in a sometimes surprising way, was the relationship between men and women, very different from what I know in France, in my daily life and environment. Contrary to what one might imagine, I didn't find it easy to talk about intimacy, even with the couples I interviewed. There was always a real period of preparation to build trust and reassure them that we were neither voyeuristic nor anecdotal. My role was to create a safe space where everyone could speak freely, setting their own limits on what they wanted to share. I also felt that it was easier to talk about seduction and flirting than about relationships and couples as such.

Yann Lapoire: I think it's fairly easy to talk about relationships, but intimacy remains a much more complex subject. As a listener too, I sometimes had the impression of hearing stories that, on the first level, might seem a little similar, with cultural differences sometimes expressed in rather clichéd ways. To get beyond these initial filters, Marie-Charlotte often had to dig deeper, and that wasn't always easy. Some things were deeper, more subtle, and didn't reveal themselves immediately. What struck me, however, was how positive the experience was for all eight couples. Testifying in public, in front of strangers, is a particular exercise, very different from a studio recording. There may be a certain amount of restraint, but there was still something powerful in the exchanges. Many people wrote to us to say that they had recognized themselves in certain stories, that they had been touched by this or that couple. The cultural specificities of each country are also clearly discernible in the episodes. When you listen to Mexico, Costa Rica or Colombia, you're already traveling a bit. The podcast also shows us all the trajectories of French, French-speaking or foreigners who arrive, sometimes by chance, stay and build a life elsewhere. It shows that exchanges between continents don't just take place through studies or work, but also through encounters, chance and life paths.

The question of language is also central. Some couples are bilingual, sometimes trilingual, and French is not always the dominant language. We have no problem with this: what we want to show is that interculturality is based above all on respect for the other's language and culture. At Alliance française, we're not dogmatic: we want to be a place where languages are loosened and connected, where we understand each other beyond our differences. Finally, even if we didn't manage to achieve the diversity we'd hoped for at the outset, the eight couples nevertheless tell very different stories. They're not just young travelers passing through: there are long journeys, multiple identities, encounters sometimes outside Latin America. And even if the Alliance isn't always the place for a romantic encounter, it remains a place for re-encounters, a space where these stories can be told in other ways, beyond the classroom, thanks in particular to podcasts, which are now a very widely shared medium.

The question of language is central. Some couples are bilingual, sometimes trilingual, and French is not always the dominant language. (...) What we want to show is that interculturality rests above all on respect for the other's language and culture.

Marie-Charlotte Danchin: I've often had the impression that, during these meetings, couples fall in love all over again. Going back over their history, their beginnings, rekindled something very strong. In retrospect, what struck me most about all the people I met was one essential thing they all had in common: curiosity and a great openness of mind. Going towards the other, towards elsewhere, towards difference, is ultimately what links all these stories.

This is a French-language project about love. Although it may sound like a cliché, love is a universe that evokes France abroad. Did you feel this in Medellín and elsewhere?

Marie-Charlotte Danchin: The cliché of love "à la française", we found it a little, but in a rather anecdotal way. The ultra-romantic Frenchman, for example, has occasionally appeared, but ultimately much less than one might imagine. In the end, the most important question is that of language in couples. In most cases, couples end up adopting a common language, often that of the country in which they live. But there are also some very strong exceptions. In Costa Rica, for example, Amandine and Andres have been living in San José for twenty years. They met at the Alliance Française, where she was his teacher and he his student. They spoke Spanish together for a long time, then, when their children were born, Amandine decided that French would be the language of the house. Today, Andres speaks French to his daughters, even though it's not his mother tongue. In Medellín, another couple, Coraline and Diego, have even adopted a third language, English. They started communicating in this way, and it has remained their language as a couple. But, on the whole, it's often Spanish, the language of the country, that prevails on a daily basis... except during arguments, when everyone spontaneously reverts to their mother tongue, which is always quite revealing and sometimes even amusing.

After six months on tour, what do you retain from this experience, humanly, artistically, but also for the Alliances françaises involved? Are you planning any new international projects or collaborations based on this adventure?

Yann Lapoire: We're extremely happy with this project, because it really ticked all the boxes of what we'd imagined at the outset. The participating Alliances are satisfied, the couples too, the public too, and the viewing figures show that there has been a real interest in these stories. For us, it's a successful operation, because the hunch we had that this project could work has been confirmed. I also had the feeling that it inspired other Alliances to say to themselves: "What if we took a step to the side too? To think about other forms, other formats, to stay in touch with today's audiences. This type of project allows us to offer a more up-to-date, livelier and more attractive image of the Alliances françaises, without revolutionizing our model, but showing that we are not just language schools. When we organize an evening with a public recording, a partnership with an outside venue, a more festive event, it attracts young people who discover the Alliance in a different way.

We're also very happy with this collaboration with a media outlet like Crush. I'm a big believer: we're strong individually, but we're much more powerful when we work together. Joining forces with a medium that already has its own credibility, audience and editorial line, gives us greater visibility and legitimacy, and above all enables us to reach new audiences and tell the story of the French-speaking world in a different way. Finally, this project wasn't conceived as a simple one-shot. It's a pilot, with eight episodes and several months of broadcasting, but it's intended to inspire, be adapted and replicated elsewhere. It can provide food for thought for the Alliance française network and the Institut français. The outcome is therefore very positive, both humanly, culturally and strategically.

Marie-Charlotte Danchin: Frankly, it was extraordinary. I have no desire to play the blasé one: this collaboration was great on every level. In terms of content, because the subject is fascinating, and in terms of form, because it was a real feat to bring together eight couples from different cultures, and to make the Alliances' schedules, tours and travel coincide. In human terms, it was incredibly rich. The encounters with the couples, with the Alliances' teams, directors, communications managers... there were real connections, to the point where I'm still in touch with some people today. Every evening was dense, intense, joyful.

I also had the feeling of realizing a project that ticked all the boxes in my life: my heart's continent, my heart's language, my professional reconversion, and my obsession with relationships. Today, I really want this first tour to become a pilot, to inspire other Alliances elsewhere in the world, to be reproduced, adapted, optimized, always at the service of the French-speaking world, the Alliances françaises network, and my desire to continue exploring love, as it is lived in 2025.

Listen and find all the information on the podcast