| Year / Length: | 2016, 65’ (Italian premiere) |
|---|---|
| Concept and direction: | Mikaël Serre |
| Choreography: | Germaine Acogny |
| Choreography assistant: | Patrick Acogny |
| Set design: | Maciej Fiszer |
| Costumes: | Johanna Diakhate-Rittmeyer |
| Music composed and performed live by: | Fabrice Bouillon “LaForest” |
| Video: | Sébastien Dupouey |
| Lighting design: | Sébastien Michaud |
| Technical director: | Marco Wehrspann |
| Text: | Togoun Servais Acogny, Aloopho, Germaine Acogny, Euripides (“Medea”) |
| Adaptation: | Mikaël Serre |
| Production: | Jant-Bi, Senegal |
| Co-production: | Les Théâtres de la Ville du Luxembourg / Théâtre de la Ville, Paris / Institut français, Paris |
| Residency and co-production: | La Ferme du Buisson - Scène nationale de Marne-la-Vallée |
| Residency: | Le Centquatre-Paris |
Dance
Germaine Acogny & Mikaël Serre - Somewhere at the Beginning
Description
Somewhere at the Beginning is the solo in which Germaine Acogny, the pioneer of contemporary African dance and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the Festival, comes to terms with her own past, the roots that are the starting points for our entire lives, embodied in the archaic figures that accompany her. Having left Africa, lived in exile in Europe and then returned to her native land, Acogny’s work is also a dialogue between the West and the African continent, about the search for identity that is never something granted or acquired. The German-French director Mikaël Serre chose to express this play of memory with an intimacy aimed at avoiding the oversimplifications of ideology.
“My life has often been unsettled. I come from somewhere, but when I try to distance myself I cannot escape from my past. It’s as if I go back to the beginning – the place from whence I come – back to my ancestors and those who accompany me”. (Germaine Acogny)