Les Écaille de la Mémoire (The Scales of Memory)
November 7 & 8, 2008
Vancouver Playhouse
Senegal’s all-male Compagnie Jant-Bi has stripped traditional African dance of all its folkloric trappings in a positive way. Through the filter of Western movement, Artistic Director Germaine Acogny has developed a pure dance language that captures the essence of African dance, rituals, and community spirit.
With equal parts compassion, humor, muscle, and grace, Urban Bush Women Artistic Director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s works have told evocative stories about topics ranging from black women’s concepts of beauty and self-esteem to civil rights in the rural American South.
In a unique artistic exchange bridging continents and cultures, Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi collaborate to create Les écailles de la mémoire (The Scales of Memory)—a work that will be seen across North America, including stops at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Kennedy Center. Fourteen dancers join forces for an evening of highly energized dance that explores the importance of place and community. The movement vocabulary created by mixing Acogny’s nature-inspired technique and Zollar’s brand of contemporary dance influenced by Black vernacular movement forms a compelling cross-cultural exchange.
Avec le soutien du Consulat général de France à Vancouver.
