Inspired by wrestling, extremely popular in Africa, Salia Sanou drew inspiration from the sport and its rituals to create Clameur des arènes in 2014. That same year, he presented the work at the Montpellier Dance Festival with four Senegalese wrestlers and four Burkinabé dancers. Today, he has adapted this stunning piece for eight young Burkinabé dancers, in order to dig deeper into some of the issues at stake. The choreographer tackles the theme of violence by highlighting the aspect of combat, both spectacular and ritualized, which is so widespread in African culture. Through dance, he shows the sport with all the intimidation and bravado it entails, and on a broader level, a way of fighting day to day. Salia Sanou returns to this work with eight young performers from La Termitière. This Centre for Choreographic Development, founded in 2005 in Ouagadougou, stands out as an essential vector for the creation and development of contemporary dance in Africa. “In contemporary dance, the repertoire dimension seems to me to be a major subject for the younger generations,” says the choreographer. “This transmission today to four male and four female dancers also invites me to question the masculine and feminine dimension with the aim of moving the representations forward”. The work is impressive with its open and determined energy, as well as its anchoring in the forces of struggle at a wider level. Strength, grace, and fragility circulate and confront each other in a rhythmic cadence at the heart of the arena, a veritable sporting playground, both artistic and quasi mystical. In this metaphor for combat, Clameur des arènes asserts itself as an ode to freedom that is more pertinent than ever.
RECREATION for eight students of CDC la Termitière
CREATION July 2014 – Montpellier dance festival