Urban Bush Women& Compagnie Jant-Bi

Brooklyn New York & Dakar Senegal
The Scales of Memory / Les écailles de la mémoire

7 danseuses et 7 danseurs

[en] The Scales of Memory is a collaboration between two extraordinary troupes: Senegal's all-male Compagnie Jant-Bi, who return after the tremendous success of Rwanda Fagaala and Waxtaan, and the all-female, Brooklyn-based Urban Bush Women. Resistance, memory, and love - three potent words - drive this evening of highly energized dance, a lyrical meditation on the heritage and truths that bind us all.

The Scales of Memory is a penetrating movement treatise which explores the convergence of African and US history. Drawing inspiration from creative research that began in the US Southern states and equally resonant African sites, this is a vivid testament to a collective past lived in the present tense. Bodies in kinetic conjunction with drumming, poetry and song trace a trajectory from trauma to recovery to renewal. Reminding us to honor the past and celebrate the present and future, Compagnie Jant-Bi and Urban Bush Women give us dance at its most urgent, evocative and unforgettable.

» Urban Bush Women are committed, triple-threat performers who dance, sing, and act with a searing sense of truthfulness. The New York Times

» Jant-Bi are astounding for their light-footed grace and their driving muscular power. The Washington Post

Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 20:00
Friday, April 23, 2010 at 20:00
Running Time 1:20 hours (no interval)
Adults 20 € / Students 8 €

Choreography Germaine Acogny, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar - In collaboration with the dancers
Music Fabrice Bouillon-Laforest - Musician and Co-Composer Frederic Bobin - Musicians Senegal (L'École des Sables) Oumar Fandy Diop, Abdoulaye Diop, Ousmane Sene
Compagnie Jant-Bi Babacar Ba, Cire Beye, Abdoulaye Kane, Pape Ibrahima Ndiaye (Kaolack), Ousmane Ndiaye (Bané), Bertrand Tchebe Saky, Abib Sow - Urban Bush Women Maria Bauman, Nora Chipaumire, Catherine Dénécy, Marjani Forté, Paloma McGregor, Love Muwwakkil, Bennalldra Williams
Co-commissioned by Dance Cleveland with funding from the 2006 Joyce Award and Christopher Newport University's Ferguson Center for the Arts - This work was developed via a series of creative residencies hosted by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and L'École des Sables

[fr] Né d'une longue collaboration entre les chorégraphes Jawole Willa Jo Zollar des États-Unis et Germaine Acogny du Sénégal et leurs compagnies respectives, Les écailles de la mémoire réunit sur scène sept danseuses de New York et sept danseurs de Dakar. Explorant ensemble les thèmes de la mémoire et de la résistance, ils transposent en mouvement l'histoire de leurs ancêtres. Un spectacle d'une force inouïe, violent et émouvant à la fois, qui à lui seul démontre le lien viscéral qui relie afro-américains et africains. Une épopée passionnelle et passionnée autour du souvenir, de la lutte et de l'amour, qui étudie les abîmes et les correspondances du genre historique et géographique.

[de] The Scales of Memory ist die erste Zusammenarbeit zwischen Jawole Willa Jo Zollar und Germaine Acogny und ihren jeweiligen Kompanien: die sieben Tänzerinnen der Urban Bush Women aus New York City und die sieben Tänzer der Compagnie Jant-Bi aus Dakar. Mehr als zwei Jahre lang besuchten sich die Kompanien gegenseitig, bereisten zusammen wichtige Orte ihrer Vergangenheit. Entstanden ist ein gewaltiges, zugleich kraftvolles und bewegendes, emotionales Epos um die Themen Erinnerung, Widerstand und Liebe.