MEDIATHEK

// FAGAALA (GENOCIDE) //

GERMAINE ACOGNY (choreographer) was inspired to create a work dealing with the issue of genocide after having read Murambi, le livre des ossements, (Book of Bones) by Senegalese writer, Boubacar Boris Diop, which is the first fictionalized rendering about the Rwandan genocide. In addition to the writings of Diop, Acogny conducted personal interviews, gathering testimonies about genocide. A combination of Diop’s fiction and these real-life accounts informed Acogny’s perspective and creative vision.

Germaine Acogny’s reflections: "This murdering madness has existed since the dawn of time, and it will probably never completely disappear. But, in order to reduce this violence, each one of us must fight against fear, hatred and vengeance, as those feelings can easily invade us. I would like everybody, the society and politicians, to become conscious of the urgent need to find solutions for peace in order to extinguish the flames of hatred and to avoid that this type of tragedy will ever happen again. I will try to find a body language inspired by all the inner distress to face the collective madness.

This suffering, the horror and the screaming of pain caused by this tragedy will be linked with and translated by the dancer’s bodies, so as to call out to the world, and shock and disturb the bodies and spirits, but showing at the same time a tiny light of hope, ready to become a sunray. The guiding texts of this creation are written in Wolof (widely spoken in Senegal), French and Japanese, in order to better illustrate the sad universality of the subject".

KOTA YAMAZAKI (choreographer) represents the spearhead of the young generation of Japanese choreographers. His work is based in Butoh, a performance art that originated in Post World-War II Japan, combined with other dance and movement techniques including ballet and modern. His dance is full of energy and a strong sense of social engagement.

Yamazaki’s choreographic approach in Fagaala was to find a connection between the genocide of Rwanda, Butoh and African Dance. Both choreographers—Acogny and Yamazaki—worked together to find, through their specific gestures, a common language capable of creating powerful and touching images of the human tragedy of genocide. The choreographers use strong body language coupled with voices and sounds to evoke both suffering and hope.

Kota Yamazaki’s reflections:

"Japan lost the Second World War. Although I belong to the post-war generation, I can understand that artists from the preceding generation have created new works based on their traumatic experience of that war. The understanding of this trauma is one of the factors building my unconscious world. I believe it is a mission of my generation to seek the next steps for regeneration. Butoh is said to have been created on such trauma, and this idea seems to be established in most of the Western world. I think it is only partly true. I also think that Butoh was born from many factors following drastic social change in the ‘sixties in Japan, when people were forced to radically change the standards in their lives. I do not want to explain or show only political genocide in Fagaala. I also want a work that will last forever filled with beauty and originality. To give this new work impact, I think that the audience should be told beforehand that it deals with the genocide of Rwanda."

/ Credits /

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER

Germaine Acogny

ASSISTANT TO GERMAINE ACOGNY

Longa Fo Eyeoto

CHOREOGRAPHER

Kota Yamazaki

ASSISTANT TO KOTA YAMAZAKI

Mina Nishimura

DANCERS

Babacar Ba

Ciré Beye

Abdoulaye Kane

Pape Ibrahima Ndiaye (Kaolack)

Ousmane Bane Ndiaye

Tchebe Saky

Abib Sow

COSTUME DESIGN

Oumou Sy

SET DESIGN

Maciej Fiszer

COMPOSER

Fabrice Bouillon – Laforest

MUSICIAN/CO-COMPOSER

Jean-Yves Gratius

MUSICIANS FROM THE ECOLE DES SABLES

Oumar Fandy Diop

N’deye Seck

Mamadou Traoré

Djibril Ba

Abdourahman Diop

SOUND ENGINEER

Michael Widhoff

LIGHTING DESIGN

Horst Mühlberger

LIGHTING TECHNICIAN

Marco Wehrspann

COMPANY MANAGER

Helmut Vogt

"AFRICAN BALL" was composed by the musicians of the Ecole des Sables

[jup/msb] http://www.movementrevolutionafrica.com/jantbi.html [Zugriff am 20.07.2015]