Seifeddine Mana:
Maktoub
Africa face-to-face with its real
and poetic anxieties
Irne Tassembdos Kombibiss, the crea- role on the continents choreographic scene.
tion which opened the festival, is a sort of
manifesto, a choreographic concerto dedicated
to Africa, to its young people, to their ques-
tions on justice and inequality, their
incomprehension of politics and revolts, as
well as to their extraordinary energy and
thirst for change and construction. Using their
own words, codices and culture, these young
people demonstrate their impatience in want-
ing things to change... or, rather, their deter-
mination to survive: a determination which
is expressed through the body. Kombibiss
shows that the body is indeed the best ve-
hicle for this. The body is every bit as in-
strumental as the mind in this work. About
ten musicians, five singers and several dozen
dancers form a committed group that also
tackles those issues that have been at the core
of recent social/political developments in
Burkina Faso. Many tableaux in Kombibiss
are equally eloquent: their dramatic power-
fulness says it all. It is both concrete and
poetic, a thoughtful, authentic, dramatic and
inspired work.
BALLET2000 welcomes a new contribu-
tor on board, cultural journalist Dieudonn
Korolakina who was born and lives in
Togo and whose first report reflects his
area of interest and expertise. His begin-
nings as a dance critic was the result of a
course given by French scholar Marie-
Christine Vernay in Tunis, after which he
has followed festivals and study oppor-
tunities in France, the USA and various
African countries. He is the editor of bi-
weekly Togo Matin which devotes ample
space to culture, the arts and, especially,
dance.
transmitting them are enor-
mous challenges, not only for
their creators and dancers,
but also for the public that
expects to see them, time and
time again.
The roundtable on this sub-
ject organised by the Institut
franais Georges Mlis in
Ouagadougou was extremely
lively. It did however have
the merit of asking crucial
questions: what does it mean
to transmit? And in what
sense? To transmit as danc-
ers or choreographers? Will
there always be someone to
whom to transmit? What are
the criteria that lead one to
chose between aesthetics?
Women in dance Does transmission concern mostly creations
or traditional dances? Do we transmit move-
African women continue to play a special ment or the story? Why transmit? Kettly
Nol attempts an answer: To transmit means
Suffice it to mention, among others, Germaine questioning something, others and ourselves.
Acogny, of the cole des Sables (Senegal), Elise I transmit my questions, my rigour, my expe-
MBalla of the Aboki Ngoma Festival (Cam- rience.... no one has the keystone but we need
eroun), Kettly Nol of Danse Bamako Danse to transmit in order to enter into the spirit of
(Mali), Syhem Belkhodja of the Choreographic a creation that has marked an era...
Meeting of Carthage and Irne Tassembdo of Training is perhaps a valid solution to the
Ouagadougou. Also on this occasion the festi- problem of transmission, but not to that of
val featured significant works by female cho- memory. Because memory evolves and dance
reographers. itself is a living art in continual transforma-
In her work entitled XXL, Gabonese Kaisha tion, concludes Seydou Boro.
Essiane comes on stage in anger and flaunts Dieudonn Korolakina
her body which is full-figured, similarly to
that of many women in her country. Her danc-
ing is strong and perhaps the expression of all
the energy that Essiane (who spends most of Kaisha Essiane: XXL (ph. E. Fitte-Duval)
her time in Europe) pours into her search for
identity. On stage her body, perhaps hardly
suited to dancing, becomes a cause for reflec-
tion.
She impressed, as did other women chore-
ographers: Judith Olivia Manantenaso, a na-
tive of Madagascar, in Mtamorphose, a solo
on nudity, and Acha Kabor of Burkina Faso
in Les Larmes de la veuve which expresses
the pain of a woman who has been rejected
and roams the streets with her children.
African choreographic memory
Clearly the theme of memory entails also
addressing that of repertory. Thus, this edi-
tion of the festival provided an opportunity
to stage or restage African repertory works
such as Ti Chlb by choreographer Kettly Nol
(a native of Haiti who lives in Mali), Um Solo
Para Cinco de feu by Augusto Cuvilas of Mo-
zambique, Fignito (Lil trou) by the Salia
Ni Seydoudu Company of Burkina Faso, and
others.
The aforementioned were pioneering Afri-
can dance creations. Adapting, staging and
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