Senagalese choreographer/dancer and founder of the world renowned Ecole des Sables, Germaine Acogny has long been regarded as "the mother of contemporary African dance." See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover Germaine’s connections and jobs at similar companies. Read more about the festival program in Frascati. Performance as memoir is a fascinating form. Publisher and Artistic Director. Her hands are dancing in the air, they glide, … It is an extraordinarily powerful piece in which Acogny looks back at the events of her life, her combative relationship with her father Togoun Servais Acogny, and her feeling of connection with her … Phrases like, “She tapped her fingers along the floor as if making marks in the sand,” or, “She struck her forehead with the edge of her palm and slapped her thigh with the back of her hand repeatedly,” begin to formulate, translating the performance in real time. 'My life has often been unsettled. Tiona Nekkia McClodden: Hold on, let me take the safety off, Modernisms: Iranian, Turkish, and Indian Highlights from NYU’s Abby Grey Collection, Betye Saar: The Legend of Black Girl’s Window, Julia Bland: The Half That Ties, the Half that Breaks, Helen Frankenthaler and Robert Motherwell: The Art of Marriage, Pat Passlof: The Brush is the Finger of the Brain, Sanam Khatibi: An hour before the Devil fell, Ron Gorchov: At the Cusp of the 80s, Paintings 1979–1983, Marco Maggi: Initialism (From Obscurantism to Enlightenment), Andrea del Verrocchio: Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence, David Hartt: The Histories (Le Mancenillier), Rachel Rabbit White with Sophia Giovannitti, Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society at Union Pool, Music of Harry Partch, Vol. Legacy Platform closed with Germaine Acogny’s Somewhere at the Beginning, directed by Mikaël Serre which premiered in 2015. Using sound, images, objects and movement, Senegalese dancer and choreographer Germaine Acogny evokes both the history of her family and that of West Africa. by Laura Brechmann | translated by Karoline Strys. When she first walked onto the stage on the opening night she paused to observe her audience, something that, in a post-show Q&A, she said she does to establish connection. When she first … View Germaine Acogny’s profile on LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional community. Senegalese choreographer Germaine Acogny presents the US premiere of her powerhouse solo, SOMEWHERE AT THE BEGINNING. Black Lives Matter. It perhaps removes her too much from the history that preceded her, that which so informs her self and her artistry. 3: Sonata Dementia, Bridge Records (2019), Artonov, Brussels, Belgium, 7th-13th October 2019, DIMITRIS PAPAIOANNOU with Ivan Talijancic, Crossing the Line: Germaine Acogny's Somewhere at the Beginning, Crossing the Line: Jérôme Bel's Isadora Duncan, Crossing the Line: Stefanie Batten Bland's Look Who's Coming to Dinner, The Eyes of Another: “Tokyo Stories” at the Japan Society, KAZIK RADWANSKI AND DERAGH CAMPBELL with Tyler Wilson, Replete and Incomplete Portraits: Documentaries at TIFF 2019, Notes on Berwick: “Why this passion for pictures, why this passion for darkness?”, Please Glauber Don’t Hurt ’Em: Glauber Rocha’s On Cinema, Édouard Louis Comes to Brooklyn: The History of Violence and The End of Eddy, inSerial: part twelve The Mysteries of Paris, We are in Open Circuits: Writings by Nam June Paik, Alive Still: Nell Blaine, American Painter. In Germaine Acogny, an intriguing woman in so many ways takes to the stage. In Germaine Acogny’s performance Somewhere at the Beginning—directed by Mikaël Serre and presented at La MaMa theater as part of the Crossing the Line Festival—Acogny does strike her forehead and mark the ground and curl her wrists over her head, but it is her presence within these actions that bring her performance to life, something not easily translated into neat sentences. BRIDGING was launched by the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) and The Edmond de Rothschild Foundations as part of Crossing the Line Festival 2016. She said, “Power must be passed from woman to woman.”, RENNIE MCDOUGALL is a writer from Melbourne, currently living in Brooklyn. She studied in France in the 1960s and then went on to combine classical ballet and modern dance with traditional African rhythms and styles. In 1960 she moved from Dakar, Senegal, to France in pursuit of modern dance and ballet training, and eventually returned home to develop a new teaching … Letting bottom and head circle while waving the spine. Nor is it suggest that Acogny is confined to her one self. Her dancing body triggers the memory. Text by: Togoun Servais Acogny, Aloopho, Germaine Acogny, Euripides (Medea) Adaptation: by Mikaël Serre She studied in France in the 1960s and then went on to combine classical ballet and modern dance with traditional African rhythms and styles. Talk Somewhere at the beginning (2015) Concept & Direction: Mikael Serre. DBN: +27 31 260 1111 PMB: +27 33 260 5111 or Call +27 31 260 8596 and follow the voice prompts Maps ABOUT SOMEWHERE CAST & CREATIVE TEAM AT THE BEGINNING Germaine Acogny, the “Mother of Contemporary African Dance,” presents the US premiere of her powerhouse solo, SOMEWHERE AT THE BEGINNING. If performance memoir grants the body an inherent storytelling virtuosity, Acogny transcends the limitations of her self by bringing to life others passed. French spoken with Dutch and English surtitles, Read more about the festival program in Frascati, General terms and conditions for visitors. Heralded as the 'Mother of Contemporary African Dance', French-Senegalese choreographer Germaine Acogny comes to Curve as part of Let's Dance International Frontiers 2018. “Mother … Theater and dance journalist Annette Embrechts (de Volkskrant) will have an after talk (in English) about the performance with Germaine Acogny. Her work is a combination of contemporary dance and traditional African styles that strive from her roots. Before any action, you notice her skull, the strength and buoyancy of it; you notice her standing with patience, power, age; you notice the dignity in the lines around her mouth; when she begins a choreographed action, you notice she performs not only for the audience, but for something beyond the confines of the present moment: there is a communion taking place, not mysticism but history. Choreography: Germaine Acogny. The 4th edition of BRIDGING pays homage to Senegalese and French dancer, choreographer, and educator Germaine Acogny . Co-created and directed by Mikaël Serre, this unflinching and brave work traces African history interwoven with her own life narrative. Acogny’s reckoning with the phantom of her father, who appears as a projection dressed in military uniform, is a reckoning with this colonized mind. When Acogny made the comment about connection in the Q&A, her interlocutor, fellow choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili, speaking indirectly with Acogny through translation, offered that such attempts at connection have often, historically, failed, whereby one side of the connection must erase herself in order to be understood by the other. You can help », A message from Phong Bui Somewhere in the Beginning tells two autobiographies: the first Acogny’s own, the second her father’s, taken from a memoir he wrote before he died, and which Acogny and Serre now mine for personal histories. Čo chystá Germaine Acogny? Germaine has 6 jobs listed on their profile. This performance is part of the Explore festival. This is a wonderful achievement amongst the many others you have accomplished, so proud of you and to be witnessing it. Their self is the story. Germaine Acogny, 'When it comes to temperament, bravery and language, the dancer and choreographer Germaine Acogny, an important figure in African dance, has them by the shedload' Télérama (FR), performed by Germaine Acogny direction Mikaël Serre choreography assistent Patrick Acogny set design Maciej Fiszer costumes Johanna Diakhate-Rittmeyer video Sébastien Dupouey music, composition Fabrice Bouillon « LaForest» light design Sébastien Michaud technique Marco Wehrspann texts by Togoun Servais Acogny, Aloopho, Germaine Acogny, Euripides (Medea), Mikaël Serre production JANT-BI coproduction Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg / Théâtre de la Ville, Paris / Institut Français, Paris. One of the downsides to reviewing dance is that you begin to see everything in sentences. Photo by Thomas Dorn. Thanks to her pioneering work, she became one of the key figures in modern African dance. Acogny uses the framework of Greek tragedy to convey her personal journey from her upbringing in Senegal through her “exile” in Europe to … “My life has often been unsettled. Riley Rienert Germaine Acogny September 15th, 2020 Germaine Acogny also known as “the mother of contemporary African dance” is a legendary Senegalese dancer and choreographer. It's as if I go back to the beginning - the place from whence I come - back to my ancestors and those who accompagny me.' You might guess her age as approaching 50 – in fact she is 72, and she still has the suppleness of a twenty-year-old. You might guess her age as approaching 50 – in fact she is 72, and she still has the suppleness of a twenty-year-old. At the 15th International Festival of Contemporary Dance of La Biennale di Venezia, to be held July 23rd through August 1st, Germaine Acogny will present the Italian premiere of her most recent solo piece Somewhere at the beginning, a journey touching on sensitive themes in which her personal history interlaces with collective events. review: Somewhere at the Beginning Germaine Acogny / Mikael Serres PAS DE PEUR – NO FEAR. Watch part of “Somewhere at the Beginning,” by Germaine Acogny, considered the mother of contemporary African dance. Acogny walks toward the park’s central castle, a relic without history, a mirror to Acogny’s disillusionment and unbelonging. She repeatedly meets the orthodoxies of power with the dissenting histories residing in her body. When the august Senegalese choreographer and dancer Germaine Acogny was born, on Pentecost in 1944, a dove appeared on the windowsill. Kompletný program na Apríl 2021 a ešte viac. Music composed and performed live: Fabrice Bouillon «LaForest» Video: Sébastien Dupouey. In Germaine Acogny, an intriguing woman in so many ways takes to the stage. The translation both engages you and distances you, sharpening your perception while giving you the sense of mastering the dance with language rather than surrendering to its wordless rhythms. In another film, she dances with Senegalese women in vibrantly-patterned dresses, while she describes the hierarchies that reduce these competing wives to petty fights over their shared husbands, and her want to escape such imprisonments. Co-created and directed by Mikaël Serre, this unflinching and brave work traces African history interwoven with her own life narrative. I come from somewhere, but when I try to distance myself I … Impressions of SOMEWHERE AT THE BEGINNING by GERMAINE ACOGNY / MIKAËL SERRE – filmed at schrit_tmacher justDANCE! Get notified about upcoming live conversations with artists and when the next issue of the Rail drops. Multi-media production on the life of the grande dame of modern African dance. As such, she inherited her grandmother’s knives, a tool with which she will cut up all expectations of her lineage. Brian Seibert Sept 24 29 Germaine Acogny La MaMa In Somewhere at the Beginning from PG 101 at EM LYON In an amazing multimedia mingling of African legend and Greek mythology, Germaine Acogny brings together sound, images, objects, and physical movement to embark on a personal confrontation with her family’s past as well as Africa’s shared history with Europe through colonialism. She enters into a dialogue with her grandmother Aloopho, a Yoruba priestess; with her father, who preferred to hide his African identity; and with her own painful experiences. Germaine Acogny’s 2016 solo Somewhere at the Beginning (À un endroit du début) which she created with Mikaël Serre, was the highlight of this year’s Let’s Dance International Frontiers festival in Leicester. I come from somewehere, but when I try to distance myself I cannot escape from my past. The JOMBA! In a projected film, Acogny walks through Disneyland Paris, a site of colonization’s absurd extremity—a European fantasy devised by an American corporation and sold back to Europe. Assistant Choreography: Patrick Acogny. It is the dynamic of colonization, which plays out such violent erasures posing as exchanges as much on the psyche as geography. Mar 29. Na GoOut sa dozvieš všetky novinky, Predstavenie, najnovšie info, vstupenky a viac. On the occasion of the 15th Venice Biennale International Dance Festival, to be held from 23 July to 1 August, Germaine Acogny will present her solo "Somewhere at the beginning". Later, she dashes a pillow against the floor, a mock infanticide, briefly becoming Medea while disdaining those who believe child-rearing to be a woman’s destiny. It epitomizes this notion that the body houses the stories it hopes to tell, stories that can be read not in the choreographies or words of the performance but simply in the performer’s being. Somewhere at the Beginning. Senegalese artist Germaine Acogny’s decades-long career has made an indelible impact on the international dance community. Die 74-jährige senegalesische Choreografin Germaine Acogny taucht in ihre Familiengeschichte ein und beschwört in einem gewaltigen Solo die koloniale Vergangenheit… «Somewhere at the Beginning» Germaine Acogny & Mikaël Serre on Vimeo City/Cité: Translating Cities and Cultures Online Event. “Somewhere At The Beginning” Germaine Acogny is considered as the “mother of Contemporary African dance”. Acogny established her own studio and later started her own company while also still performing many solos. Germain Acogny performing in SOMEWHERE AT THE BEGINNING at Theatre de la Ville, Luxembourg. This is … More of his writing can be found at renniemcdougall.com, Critical Perspectives on Art, Politics and Culture. In Germaine Acogny’s performance Somewhere at the Beginning—directed by Mikaël Serre and presented at La MaMa theater as part of the Crossing the Line Festival—Acogny does strike her forehead and mark the ground and curl her wrists over her head, but it is her presence within these actions that bring her performance to life, something not easily translated into neat sentences. This is not to diminish the structural sophistication of Acogny and Serre’s narrative in Somewhere in the Beginning. When she was born, she recounts early on in Somewhere in the Beginning, a dove appeared on the windowsill, a sign that Acogny was her grandmother, her father’s mother, reincarnate. Later, she dances to Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” those same slapping and striking actions culminating in a charged exorcism of a dance. Acogny’s father, who grew up in French colonial Senegal, received an Anglo education, studying Mein Kampf and learning to despise his own heritage—a colonized mind. Festival 2019 in Parkstad Limburg Theaters… We stand in solidarity with those affected by generations of structural violence. She stands up straight, connected with heaven and earth and with stomping feet she arches her torso front and back. Several times before the performance, I heard people refer to Acogny as the “mother of contemporary African dance.” (I suspect she might not favor the title, not only because of her emphatic feelings about child-rearing.) Legacy Platform closed with Germaine Acogny’s Somewhere at the Beginning, directed by Mikaël Serre which premiered in 2015. BRIDGING offers international perspectives to evaluate policies and practices in an effort to move beyond simple … A COMMENT BY THE DIRECTOR (..Somewhere at the beginning) I vividly remember a remark that Germaine Acogny made at our first encounter. As such, it is apropos that for her appearance on the JOMBA 2020 Legacy platform she presented her critically-acclaimed autobiographical solo dance theater work, "Somewhere at the Beginning." GERMAINE ACOGNY (SN/FR) Somewhere at the Beginning (2015, 65’) Italian premiere concept & direction Mikael Serre choreography Germaine Acogny assistant choreography Patrick Acognys set design Maciej Fiszer costumes Johanna Diakhate-Rittmeyer music composed and performed live Fabrice Bouillon «LaForest» video Sébastien Dupouey In her body powerhouse solo, Somewhere at the Beginning ( 2015 ) Concept Direction!: Sébastien Dupouey spoken with Dutch and English surtitles, Read more about the festival program Frascati. 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