Waxtaan - Jant-Bi

The ChoreographyWAXTAAN is a wolof word for “discussion”, “to quibble”.This choreographic work is based on traditional dances – themost beautiful and adaptable ones for this creation– fromseveral African countries. The company Jant-Bi focuses ontheir incredible beauty and richness of movement andrhythmic complexities and wants to offer a new perceptionof those dances who’s usual image is the one of popularfolklore. The implemented choreographic tools to deconstructand reorganise those traditional or neo-traditionaldance forms are absolutely contemporary.The originality of the creation does not just rely on theprocessing of traditional or neo-traditional dance forms.It also carries a critical look on political African leaders.Indeed, dancers and musicians, parody presidents, ministers,politicians and men of power. They question them with thehope that things could really change and economic, socialand cultural situations cease to degrade.DancersAbib SOWAndre DRAMEAbdou DIOPBabacar BABertrand Saki TCHEBECire BEYEDaouda NDAOMouhamed Abdoulaye KANEOusmane N’DIAYE, called BanePape Ibrahima N’DIAYE, called KaolackMusiciansOumar Fandy DIOPAbdoulaye DIOPNdeye SECKOusmane SENEPape Badara FALL« WAXTAAN » is a request for excellency, generosity andsolidarity. It is an affirmation of our strength and of ourcapacity to go ahead and a manifestation of our belief thatAfrica and Africans can come out of the actual negativeimage!But it is also a tribute to the ancestors, to the beauty andrichness of the dances they passed on to us, which arepresented in a new, modern form.The musical creationThe musical creation is based on the original traditionalrhythms of the dances chosen from different countries.The musicians of The Ecole des Sables, under the directionof Oumar Fandy Diop, adapt these rhythms to the variationsused for the choreographic creation.The instruments used by the 5 musicians are :Sabar · Nder · Thiol · Mbeung - MbeungToungouné · Djembé · Thioung bandKinkélïng · Sambang · Basse · ContrebasseLighting DesignHorst MÜHLBERGER had worked before with the company.He knows Africa and the different energies of its dancesvery well. He is a very sensitive artist and a skilful technicianat the same time, able to combine in his work the latesttechnology and the old traditional ways of lighting, whichare as simple as they are effective. His images of light anddarkness make the space vibrant, luminous, frightening ordreamlike – a powerful support for the images and emotions.

The Company Jant-BiThe Company Jant-Bi is composed for this creation of8 dancers and 5 Senegalese musicians. All of them areformer students of the Ecole des Sables, where theyhad followed professional workshops of traditionaland contemporary African dances and contemporarywestern dances. Created in 1998, the Company hasnow three creations in its repertory: ”Le Coq est Mort“,choreographed by the German Susanne Linke and theIsraeli Avi Kaiser in 1999; ”Fagaala“ choreographed byGermaine Acogny and the Japanese Kota Yamazaki in2003, based on the genocide of Rwanda, and ”Waxtaan“in 2007. All of them have met, and still meet a greatsuccess on their international tours.The Company Jant-Bi has always been in close relationwith the International Center for Traditional andContemporary African Dances, l’Ecole des Sables, who’smain objectives are to supply the African dancers witha professional training on traditional and contemporaryAfrican dance, and to develop and promote ContemporaryAfrican Dance.At the same time, it is a meeting point and a place ofexchange for dancers and choreographers from Africa,the African Diaspora and the different cultures from allover the world.Press extractsNRC Amsterdam: “Waxtaan is mainly about the dynamicinteraction between exceptionally good percussion andmagnificent dancing. The production shows the bestof the tradition of West African dance and music, withmodern lighting and staging”Le Telegramme de Brest : « The show takes a lookwithout complaisance, but always full of humor, on thechiefs of state and leaders. The dancers, dressed in theperfect set of men of power, parody their manners. It isa choreography full of spirit, that the 8 dancers of thecompany have interpretated, with an apparent facility, aspirit without limit, and mainly an incontestable talent. »Magazine Danser : « Waxtaan deploys all the richnessand subtleties of a dance with an exceptional virtuosity,rapid, nervous, polyrythmic and mainly unusual. »Sud Ouest : « Amazing, these Senegalese dancers. Theydash, jump with an unbelievable grace and energy. Thegesture and the rhythm of the percussions talk to eachother, melting together, perfectly carried on the samemomentum. (...) The show is the expression of a today’sAfrica in its full diversity. »

WAXTAANGERMAINE ACOGNYSenegalese dancer and choreographerProduction Association Jant-Bi - SenegalArtistic Director Germaine ACOGNYChoreography Germaine ACOGNY and PatrickACOGNY, in collaboration with the dancers.Music Oumar Fandy DIOP and the drummersof the Ecole des SablesLighting creation Horst MÜHLBERGERLight technician Marco WEHRSPANNSet design Patrick ACOGNYCostumes Patrick ACOGNY / Germaine ACOGNYCompany Manager Helmut VOGTSenegalese and French, she founded her first dancestudio in Dakar in 1968. Thanks to the influenceof the dances she had inherited from her grandmother,a Yoruba priest, Germaine Acogny hasgiven birth to her own technique of Modern AfricanDance, which she explains in her book “AfricanDance” edited in 3 languages in 1980.Between 1977 and 1982, she was director of MudraAfrique (Dakar), created by Maurice Bejart and theSenegalese president L. S. Senghor.Since that time, she dances, produces, choreographsand teaches all over the world, becoming a realemissary of the African Dance and Culture.Together with her husband, Helmut Vogt, shefounded in 1985, in Toulouse, France, the«Studio-Ecole-Ballet-Theatre du 3e Monde».Her work was highly plebiscited in 1987, with avideo clip for Peter Gabriel and the creation of herfirst solo «Sahel».In 1995, she decided to go back to Senegal, tocreate The International Centre for Traditional andContemporary African Dances, The Ecole des Sables,a meeting place for dancers from Africa and all overthe world, a place of education for dancers with theobjective of guiding them towards a ContemporaryAfrican Dance.In 1997, she became Artistic Director of the « Dancesection of Afrique en Creation », Paris, and theAfrican Choreographic Encounters, a function sheheld until September 2000.Her latest solo “Tchouraï” has been produced inthe most prestigious theatres and festivals aroundthe world.PATRICK ACOGNYChoreographer, dancer, teacherChoreographer and dancer, Patrick has worked inParis with the company Ebene of Irene Tassembedo(Burkina Faso), before settling in Birmingham(United Kingdom) to direct Kokuma Dance Theatre,an African and Carribean dance company, during6 years.Now he is based in Brittany (France). Patrick isregularly invited in various European and Africancountries to work with professionals and amateurs.Patrick is equally a university researcher with theethnoscenology laboratory of Paris VIII (Saint-Denis). He is presently doing a PhD on AfricanDance Forms.TOUR REPRESENTATIONUnited States / AsiaCathy Pruzan, USATel. 1 –415– 789 5051Email : cpruzan@aol.comFrance / EuropePatrick PerninAssociation Scènes de la Terre, Paristel. : 33(0) 1 48 05 92 41mobile : 33(0) 6 07 16 55 44Email : p_pernin@hotmail.comGermany / EuropeHelga Müller-Serre, GermanyTel. : 49 (0) 221 91 74276Mobile : 49 (0) 177 584 6084Email : helgamserre@aol.comCO-PRODUCERSResidency creation inThéâtre de Chateau Rouge / AnnemasseCoproduction and supports:Fondation Prince Claus/Nederlands,Het MuziekTeater/Amsterdam,Grand Theatre de la Ville de Luxembourg,SEBT 3eme Monde/Toulouse.COMPANY JANT BI CONTACTSenegal :BP 22626 - 15523 Dakar – SenegalEmail : jantbi@gmail.comT : 221 (0) 836.23.88T / F : 221 (0) 836.36.19France :24, rue Léonce Castelbou31000 Toulouse - FranceEmail : jant-bi.acogny@wanadoo.frT : 33 (0) 5.61.23.17.75F : 33 (0) 5.61.23.34.04www.jantbi.orgPhotos © Thomas Dorn artwork bialek & buelow