Germaine Acogny
Choreographer and Dancer, common ground[s]
Senegalese French dancer, teacher and choreographer Germaine Acogny is known as the “mother of contemporary African dance.” She studied at the École Simon Siegel in Paris and established her first dance studio in Dakar in 1968. There, she developed her own technique for modern African dance, combining the influence of dances she had inherited from her grandmother, Yoruba Priestess, with her knowledge of traditional African and occidental dance.
Between 1977 and 1982, Acogny was the artistic director of Mudra Afrique (Dakar), before moving to Toulouse in 1985, where she and her husband, Helmut Vogt, founded the “Studio-École-Ballet-Théâtre du 3è Monde.” In 1995, she returned to Senegal and established an international education center for traditional and contemporary African dances, École des Sables.
In 1998, she started her own dance company, Jant-Bi, whose productions include Les écailles de la mémoire – Scales of Memory (2008), a collaboration with Urban Bush Women, and notably, Fagaala, based on the genocide in Rwanda and winner of a Bessie Award (2007).
Acogny’s other prominent works and credits include Sahel (1987), YE’OU (1988 – winner of the London Contemporary Dance and Performance Award 1991), Tchouraï (2001), Bintou Were - a Sahel Opera (2007), Songook Yaakaar (2010), Mon élue noire – Sacre no.2, choreography Olivier Dubois, (2014, based on the original music of The Rite of Spring, winner of a Bessie Award 2018) and À un endroit du début (2015).
Acogny is a respected emissary of African Dance and Culture and continues to collaborate with schools and dance centers and teach masterclasses worldwide.
Malou Airaudo
Choreographer and Dancer, common ground[s]
Born in Marseille, France, in 1948, Malou Airaudo began dancing at the age of eight at the Opéra de Marseille. At 17, she joined the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo, where she became a soloist working with Léonide Massine before joining Françoise Adret and her Ballet-Théâtre-Contemporain in 1968.
In the early 1970s, she moved to New York to work with Paul Sanasardo and Manuel Alum, the latter choreographing the solo Woman of a Mystic Body for Airaudo. It is there that she met Pina Bausch for the first time.
In 1973, she was invited by Pina Bausch to join her in Wuppertal, Germany, where the director of the city’s theatres Arno Wüstenhöfer had just appointed Pina the head of the Wuppertal Ballet, which she soon renamed the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Airaudo became one of the key figures of the ensemble, creating major roles in various productions, such as Iphigenie auf Tauris, Orpheus und Eurydike, Café Müller and dancing The Rite of Spring as well as in many other pieces.
She was also a founding member of the Parisian dance company, La Main, along with Jacques Patarozzi, Dominique Mercy, Helena Pikon and Dana Sapiro, and worked with choreographer Carolyn Carlson at the Teatrodanza La Fenice in Venice.
From 1984 until 2018, she taught dance at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen-Werden, and in 2012, she became the director of the university’s Institute of Contemporary Dance.
Her choreographic accomplishments include Le Jardin des Souvenirs, Jane, Je Voudrais Tant, Schwarze Katze and If You Knew, created from the mid-’90s onward for companies such as the Folkwang Tanz Studio, the Ballet de Nancy, the Ballet de Geneva, the Ballet du Nord and Venice Biennale. In the last decade, she has also worked with Pottporus Renegade Theatre creating work with breakdancers like Irgendwo and Verlorene Drachen.
Airaudo has also appeared in the films Talk To Me (2002, dir. Pedro Almodóvar) and Pina (2011, dir. Wim Wenders).
In 2023, she received the German Dance Award together with three other former dancers of Pina Bausch.
Fabrice Bouillon-LaForest
Composer, common ground[s]
Musician, writer and composer, Fabrice Bouillon-Laforest is the artistic director of French FAUN(es) Collectif, alongside dancer Sébastien Cormier. He is a long-time collaborator of Germaine Acogny (Fagaala, Songook Yaakaar, A un Endroit du Début) and École des Sables. Familiar to the world of dance (original scores for Nora Chipaumire, Urban Bush Women, Pittsburgh’s Dance Alloy Theatre, Kota Yamazaki, Don’t Hit Mama, Patrick Acogny, Cie Virevolt), he is the co-founder of circus company Hors Surface with performer Damien Droin. He has created and performed several shows including Tetraktys, Boat and Fabulomania. His work spans from video games to pop and rock. Under the alias LaForest, he has released two albums, co-written the documentary film Rimanere (Alexandre Lopez), and created and led many art projects designed for rural/remote environments. With Sébastien Cormier and musician Tristan Assant, he is touring Bouillon-LaForest as a singer and frontman of a multidisciplinary music/dance project.
Zeynep Kepekli
Lighting Designer, common ground[s]
Zeynep Kepekli is a London-based lighting designer who presents work in the U.K. and around the world across dance, theatre, opera, ballet as well as site-specific projects and installations.
Her work is influenced by nature, architecture and bodies in spaces. She continuously questions geography and belonging in her work. In her personal works, she researches the natural light and its transformative effects on the landscape, using film and photography to document.
Some of her recent credits include California Connections (Yorke Dance Project, The Royal Opera House), Festival of New Choreography (Royal Ballet - The Royal Opera House), How Did We Get Here (Julie Cunningham Co + Mel C - Sadler’s Wells Theatre), The Meaning of Zong (Tom Morris/Giles Terera – Bristol Old Vic), Neighbours ( Brigel Gjoka/Rauf ’Rubberlegs’ Yasid – Sadler’s Wells), common ground[s] (Pina Bausch Foundation/Ecoles des Sables/Sadler’s Wells), Afternoon Conversations With Dancers (Robert Cohan/Yolande Yorke – Edgell -The Royal Opera House), Within Without with Limbic Cinema.
She was the technical manager of Sadler’s Wells Theatre and head of production and technical at Battersea Arts Centre. She is the technical director of Akram Khan Dance Company and a member of MENA Arts UK.
Sophiatou Kossoko
Dramaturg, common ground[s]
Sophiatou Kossoko studied modern dance and ballet at the Doug Crutchfield Dance School in Copenhagen, Denmark. She completed her training by doing workshops with teachers, artists, and choreographers from various dance backgrounds. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts – Dance Path and continued her studies at the University of Paris 8ème in France. Kossoko founded the company IGI, with a focus on creating, producing and presenting artistic projects that combine dance with other disciplines such as singing, music, theatre and visual arts to explore the relationships between the world’s cultural differences. IGI offers a range of educational activities on a regular basis in collaboration with institutions and artists. Kossoko choreographed Tchouraï, a solo for Germaine Acogny.
The choreographer Olivier Dubois also invited her to create a piece, Allégorie, for Danswindow. One of her poems is being published in présences by le Printemps des Poètes.
Petra Leidner
Costume Designer, common ground[s] Costume Maker, The Rite of Spring
Petra Leidner has been a costume director at Wuppertaler Bühnen und Sinfonieorchester GmbH since 2011. She has also been the costume director for Burgfestspiele Jagsthausen for over six seasons.
Since 1992, Leidner has been costume director at Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and has worked on all premieres and revivals of the company’s productions, in close collaboration with Marion Cito. In recent years, she has supervised and been responsible for costume design and consultation for various productions by Pina Bausch, for the Pina Bausch Foundation. Leidner opened her own costume studio in 2013.
Pina Bausch
Choreographer, The Rite of Spring
Pina Bausch was born in 1940 in Solingen, Germany, and died in 2009 in Wuppertal. She received her dance training at the Folkwang School in Essen under Kurt Jooss, where she achieved technical excellence. After two years in New York, initially with a scholarship from the renowned Juilliard School of Music, then as a dancer at the New American Ballet and at the Metropolitan Opera House Ballet, she returned to Essen in 1962 on Jooss’ request as a soloist at the newly founded Folkwang Dance Studio. Soon after, the director of Wuppertal’s theatres, Arno Wüstenhöfer, engaged her as a choreographer in autumn 1973; she renamed the ensemble the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Under this name, although controversial at the beginning, the company gradually achieved international recognition. Its combination of poetic and everyday elements influenced the international development of dance. Awarded some of the greatest prizes and honours worldwide, Bausch is one of the most significant choreographers of our time.
Igor Stravinsky
Music, The Rite of Spring
Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) was acclaimed for his many stage works, including the original ballets Petrushka, Agon, The Firebird, Apollo, Scènes de ballet and The Rite of Spring, as well as the opera The Rake’s Progress. Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum, Russia, in 1882 and raised in St. Petersburg. He first gained his acclaim in the early 1900s for his compositions for the Ballets Russes, including The Rite of Spring. In Switzerland and subsequently France, he continued his work, composing such works as Persephone and Renard. In 1939, Stravinsky moved to the United States and completed his Symphony in C. Stravinsky remained in the United States until his death in 1971 in New York City, at which point he had a repertoire of more than 100 works to his name. Stravinsky is revered as one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.
Rolf Börzik
Original Set and Costume Design, The Rite of Spring
Rolf Börzik was born in 1944 in Poznań, Poland, and initially studied drawing and painting in Haarlem, Amsterdam, and Paris from 1963 to 1966. Then, in 1967, he studied graphics and design at the Folkwang School in Essen. In 1970, he met Pina Bausch and, from 1973, created sets and costumes for her in Wuppertal, making a decisive contribution to the look of dance theatre. Börzik died in January 1980 at the age of 35.
Josephine Ann Endicott
Artistic Director, The Rite of Spring
Josephine Ann Endicott is a trained classical dancer of the Australian Ballet school and Australia Ballet company.
In 1973, she was chosen by Pina Bausch to join the Tanztheater Wuppertal as a soloist where she danced until her last performance with the company in 2018, at the age of 69. Presently, she is a rehearsal director for many of the older Bausch productions, including The Rite of Spring and her restagings of Kontakthof. With Ladies and Gentlemen over 65 with Beatrice Libonati (1999/2000) and Kontakthof. With Teenagers over 14 with Bénédicte Billiet (2009/2010) were major successes. She was responsible for several international restagings of Pina Bausch pieces, including The Rite of Spring and Orpheus und Eurydike at the Paris Opera. In 2023, she received the German Dance Award together with three other former dancers of Pina Bausch.
Jorge Puerta Armenta
Artistic Director, The Rite of Spring
Jorge Puerta Armenta became a member of the ensemble of Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal in 1997, where he danced in repertoire pieces and created eight pieces under Bausch’s direction. He had previously worked with Folkwang Tanzstudio. Since 2014, Puerta Armenta has worked as a freelance choreographer and dancer. Credits include: works commissioned by IDARTES in Colombia, a full co-production between the cultural center of Universidad del Pacífico and the Goethe Institute; and a production of Ivona directed by Omar Sangare in Massachusetts.
He was responsible for several international restagings of Pina Bausch’s pieces, including The Rite of Spring in Paris, London and Berlin and the restaging of Auf dem Gebirge hat man ein Geschrei gehört (On the Mountain a Cry Was Heard) in Lyon. In 2020, he participated in two projects online: a coaching video-dance workshop (La Factoría/Colombia) and an experimental film dance workshop co-directed with Chrystel Guillebeaud for persons over 60 years old for the Festival Under Construction/Wuppertal. Film credits include: Pedro Almodóvar’s Talk to Her (2002) and Wim Wenders’ Pina (2011). He studied at the Cndc (Centre national de danse contemporaine), France.
Clémentine Deluy
Artistic Director, The Rite of Spring
After graduating from the Folkwang Universität der Kunste in Essen-Werden, Clémentine Deluy joined the Company Sasha Waltz & Guests in 2002. In 2006, she became a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal and, since 2014, has been a guest artist of the company. Since 2015, she has worked on further collaborations with Sasha Waltz including Romeo & Juliet, Figure Humaine (Elbephillarmonie), Kreatur, Exodus and Rauschen.
Currently, Deluy is working on pieces by Pascal Merighi, Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola, and in 2019, supported by the Globe, Deluy explored theatrical forms of artistic research in collaboration with Thusnelda Mercy, Jack Laskey and Ben Wishaw. In the same year, she also co-directed the restaging of Iphigenia auf Tauris by Pina Bausch for the Semperoper Dresden, a project developed by the Pina Bausch Foundation. Deluy also teaches international dance workshops for professional and amateur dancers.
Çağdaş Ermiş
Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring
Çağdaş Ermiş was born in Wuppertal and has a bachelor and master’s degree in dance from the Folkwang University of Arts in Essen, Germany.
He has been a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal since 2014. Over the course of his career, Ermiş has worked with Susanne Linke, Henrietta Horn, Malou Airaudo, Lutz Förster and David Hernandez, among others.
Ditta Miranda Jasjfi
Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring
Ditta Miranda Jasjfi was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. She began classical ballet training in Paris at the age of 5 before continuing her training back in Indonesia with Farida Oetoyo, and studying Indonesian traditional dances from Bali, West, Mid and East Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Jaipong with various teachers. In 1989, she began studying dance at Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany, and, in 1993, became a member of the Folkwang Tanz Studio. In 1994, she pursued an engagement in Tanztheater of the Stadttheater Bremen with Artistic Director Susanne Linke and Urs Dietrich. Since 2000, Jasjfi has been a dancer with Tanztheater Wuppertal.
Barbara Kaufmann
Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring
Barbara Kaufmann trained at Iwanson International School of Contemporary Dance in New York and Paris, Royal Ballet Academy Stockholm, Folkwang University of the Arts under Hans Züllig and Jean Cébron, and with Maestro Alfredo Corvino.
She has danced with the Jessica Iwanson Dance Company, Tanzprojekt München with Birgitta Trommler, the Folkwang Tanzstudio with Susanne Linke and with Pina Bausch (since 1987).
Since 2002, Kaufmann has been working as rehearsal assistant for The Rite of Spring, Iphigenie auf Tauris, The Tannhäuser Bacchanal and as rehearsal director for Since She by Dimitris Papaioannou. She has also been a rehearsal director for the Pina Bausch Foundation at English National Ballet and Ballet Flanders for The Rite of Spring and at the Semperoper for Iphigenie auf Tauris.
Additional affiliations include her appearance in the Wim Wenders film Pina (2011) and collaborating on the development of video annotation, oral history projects and direction of documentation at the Pina Bausch Foundation. She was awarded the Isadora Tanzpreis in 2012.
Julie Shanahan
Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring
Julie Shanahan was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1962. She completed all her RAD classical ballet examinations and a Bachelor of the Arts in contemporary dance and choreography.
She worked for two years at the Sydney-based One Extra Dance Company and Darwin Dance Mob before moving to Germany in 1984, working as a soloist dancer until 1988 with Reinhold Hoffmann’s Bremen Dance Theater and Schauspielhaus Bochum.
In 1988, she joined the Tanztheater Wuppertal as a soloist dancer. Besides her role as dancer, she is also a rehearsal director for a number of Pina Bausch repertory pieces including The Rite of Spring.
Kenji Takagi
Rehearsal Director, The Rite of Spring
Kenji Takagi is from Berlin, Germany, and trained at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen. He was a permanent ensemble member of Tanztheater Wuppertal from 2001 to 2008, when he received the German Theatre Prize, Der Faust for Outstanding Performance in Dance for his solo in Pina Bausch’s Bamboo Blues.
From 2008 to 2018, he became a guest artist for the company, as both a dancer and rehearsal director. His work as a rehearsal director includes the restaging of The Rite of Spring at the Paris Opéra, the English National Ballet, Ballet Flanders and Staatsballett Berlin.
Additionally, in 2016, he contributed to the “transmission” project of Pina Bausch’s work, For the children of yesterday, today and tomorrow, in collaboration with the Bavarian State Ballet.
Recently, he has performed in various improvisation shows and interdisciplinary stage projects in Germany.
Rodolphe Allui
Côte D’Ivoire
Rodolphe Allui is a dancer and choreographer from the Ivory Coast who has been working in traditional and contemporary dance with Compagnie Dumanlé since 2012. Since completing his training at the National Superior Institute of Arts and Culture (INSAAC) in the Ivory Coast, where he obtained a master’s degree in dance, he has participated in several contemporary and traditional creations.
Sahadatou Ami Touré
Benin
Trained in Benin and the sub-region, Sahadatou Ami Touré promotes dance in schools and universities in Benin. She has created a brand, AmiFusion Clothing, which specializes in the making of Bombers and baby clothes in wax fabric to promote local clothing.
Anique Ayiboe
Togo
Anique Ayiboe is a Togolese professional dancer with a degree in dance from École Des Sables, Senegal. Always in search of new horizons, her love for dance pushes her to participate in many artistic projects both nationally and internationally, including in Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Germany, Spain and France.
Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi
Nigeria
Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi, who hails from Delta state of Nigeria, is a Lagos-based dance artist, teacher, choreographer, fitness instructor, actor and costume designer. Ugwarelojo Biachi’s training includes several national and international residencies/workshops with choreographers and companies around the world. She completed the AWA Dance mentorship program in the class of 2021. Her body of works include stints in theatre, television, motion pictures and working with children of all ages.
In 2021, at the Institut Français in Burkina Faso, her solo ILE made its performance debut at the Fido International Festival of Dance. Her latest acting credit is recorded in the Netflix original Mystic River and many others, excluding her costuming background.
Biachi just concluded an Artistic Development Residency at Dance Base Studio in Edinburghin 2023.
Khadija Cisse
Senegal
Khadija Cisse, alias Belgique, started dancing as a teenager with dancehall. In 2016, she decided to strengthen her dance skills with École des Sables and several other teachers. Dancing became her profession, and she has since participated in several projects.
Sonia Zandile Constable
South Africa
From Cape Town, Sonia Zandile Constable started dancing at the age of 11 at Dance For All (NGO). After Matric in 2004, she went to the Ailey School in New York during winter for six months. After returning to South Africa, she joined Dance For All Youth Company until 2007. She has done numerous collaborations with Cape Town City Ballet, Free Flight and Jazzart. From 2008–2011, she was a member of Ikapa Dance Theatre, and, in 2012–2013, she joined Sean Bovim’s Bovim Ballet. In 2014, she joined The Dance Factory performing Dada Masilo’s Swan Lake, Carmen and Giselle, and touring internationally throughout Europe, America and Asia.
Rokhaya Coulibaly
Senegal
Born and raised in Pikine, Rokhaya Coulibaly started dancing at the age of 13 with Koutoubo Camara. She participates in several workshops and dance training in festivals. A member of the company Sunu Percu Danse since 2015, she joined the ballet of the National Theater Daniel Sorano in 2019.
Inas Dasylva
Senegal
Inas Dasylva was born in Dakar, Senegal, and started street dance when he was 13 years old. Six years later, he began to undertake the traditional Senegalese sabar dance in the company Senè Afrique. In 2015, he joined the Alvin Ailey Dance Academy in Dakar where he trained in contemporary dance, jazz and capoeira for three years. In 2016, he trained in traditional and contemporary African dance at the École des Sables in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal. In 2018, he was selected to perform in Boy Breaking Glass choreographed by Alessandra Seutin (Vocab Dance) for Sadler’s Wells in London.
Astou Diop (Tousa)
Senegal
Astou Diop (Tousa) was born in Dakar, Senegal, and started competing in hip-hop dance battles with group Attack Dance when she was 16. At 18, she started sabar and contemporary dance classes with the company Sene Africa. She has been training in traditional and contemporary African dances in Dakar since 2016 and is a member of École des Sables’ Jant-Bi II company.
Serge Arthur Dodo
Côte d’Ivoire
Serge Arthur Dodo is a choreographer and performer from the Ivory Coast. He trained at the National School of Theatre and Dance (ENTD), where he obtained a Diploma of Artistic Advanced studies (DESA) and at École des Sables, Senegal. He has his own dance company King’Art and teaches contemporary dance at the AHK University of Art in Amsterdam.
Franne Christie Dossou
Senegal
A contemporary dancer, performer and Capoeirist from Benin, Franne Christie Dossou started dancing at the age of 24. She holds a master’s degree in project management and she is the mother to a 10-year-old boy. Since 2014, she has pursued various forms of training. Today, she is ’creating value through the culture of art,’ as a dancer with the company ANIKAYA as her focus.
Estelle Foli
Togo
Estelle Foli is a professional contemporary dancer. She has honed her craft through a wide range of residency, training and performance experiences with choreographers, directors and dance companies throughout Africa and Europe. Her technique bears the mark of each of these experiences.
Aoufice Junior Gouri
Côte d’Ivoire
Ivorian dancer-performer Aoufice Junior Gouri graduated from the National Superior School of Arts and Culture in the Ivory Coast and continues to develop through further training, workshops and performances. His motto is: “Live my passion to the fullest by taking up challenges.”
Zadi Landry Kipre
Côte d’Ivoire
Born in Abidjan, dancer, choreographer, and acrobat Zadi Landry Kipre has participated in the 7th Jeux de la Francophonie in Nice and won third prize for Best Creation at the Algiers International Dance Festival. Landry Kipre is currently the assistant choreographer of both the National Ballet of the Ivory Coast and the international circus AFRIKA AFRIKA.
Bazoumana Kouyaté
Mali
Bazoumana Kouyaté , known as Tom, is a professional dancer-performer from Mali, who is trained in both traditional Malian and contemporary dance. He has choreographed various creations for the stage and has participated in numerous projects.
Profit Lucky
Nigeria
Profit Lucky is a Nigerian dancer who began his dance training in Nigeria before moved to Ghana to train with Ghana Theatre & Contemporary Dance under the artistic direction of Valerie Miquel. There, he was a soloist in two productions for the company. Lucky was awarded a full scholarship to Eric Scott Underwood’s Online Summer Intensive Program and Alonzo King Lines Ballet Online Summer Program. Outside of dance, Lucky also worked as a model and dance-model in Nigeria and Ghana, and completed an Exchange Dance Program with École Des Sables and Amsterdam University of the Arts.
Babacar Mané
Senegal
Babacar Mané has worked with multiple dance companies. He joined the National School of Arts of Senegal to train in choreography. Mané was the winner of the Institut Français de Paris’ Visa Pour La Création 2020 program.
Vasco Pedro Mirine
Mozambique
Vasco Pedro Mirine is Mozambican. He graduated in sculpture (ADPP) and trained in performing arts (P.A.R.T.S.). He spent 10 years working in the visual arts. During this time, he also worked with the municipal singing and African dance company Matola and collaborated with Culturarte Mozambique. Mirine is a multidisciplinary artist and freelancer trained in contemporary Afro and Afro-street dances at École des Sables.
Stêphanie Mwamba
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Stêphanie Mwamba is a dancer and performer from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has been passionate about dance since 2015. Fascinated by the dance steps and rhythms of traditional dance, Mwamba has taken part in various dance training and has performed at festivals including Cairo International Festival for Contemporary Experimental Theatre, BataloEast Festival (Kampala) and Amani Festival (Goma).
Florent Nikiema
Burkina Faso
Florent Nikiema is a Burkinabé dancer-performer, graduate of EDIT and certified teacher from the École des Sables and CDC la Termitière. He has trained with dancers such as Salia Ni Seydou, Laurence Levasseur, Irène Tassembédo, Angélin Preljocaj and Germaine Acogny.
Shelly Ohene-Nyako
Ghana / Switzerland
Shelly Ohene-Nyako is Ghanaian and Swiss. After completing her bachelor’s degree in performing arts, she worked as a freelance dancer. She moved to Ghana in 2018, where she started teaching ballet and fusing multiples styles together. Her aim is to help the performing arts scene in Africa grow.
Brian Otieno Oloo
Kenya
Brian Otieno Oloo is a Kenyan-born performer. He works with several organizations in East Africa such as Yawa dance company and Ibuka Dance Foundation as co-artistic director. Otieno Oloo’s most profound work was Mizani, a piece about gender equality, which toured 10 towns in Tanzania and impacted thousands of people.
Harivola Rakotondrasoa
Madagascar
Born in 1987, Harivola Rakotondrasoa is the artistic director of the DIHY Project, an association for dance training and outreach. Living in Madagascar, he organizes cultural events and works with companies such as Hetsika Madagascar, Asara, Anjorombala and Sasha Waltz and Guests through Zaratiana Randrianantenaina.
Oliva Randrianasolo (Nanie)
Madagascar
Madagascan dancer Oliva Randrianasolo has been working with the company Tahala, based in Tamatave (Madagascar) since 2011. Randrianasolo often collaborates with local and international dance companies and is a member of dance association Dih’arajky. She graduated from École des Sables.
Tom Jules Samie
Togo
Tom Jules Samie began dancing with Dagbeneva, a traditional Togolese dance company, during which time he broadened his training through contemporary dance workshops and classes. At the Alvin Ailey Senegal Academy in Dakar, he studied traditional Senegalese dance, modern jazz, classic and contemporary. Samie then graduated from the Taf-Taf promotion of the École des Sables with a professional dance diploma.
He created a piece entitled Hommage; he was a soloist in the opera NEHANDA by Compagnie Nora Chipaumire and currently tours with Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring. He has also taken part in numerous dance projects.
Amy Collé Seck
Senegal
Dancer and circus performer Amy Collé Seck began her career in breakdance. She has been practicing circus techniques with Sen’Cirk since 2016. In 2019, she performed at the Battle National and B2F festival in Dakar and Rufisque. Collé Seck is a member of École des Sables’ Jant-Bi II company.
Pacôme Landry Seka
Côte d’Ivoire
Pacôme Landry Seka is a professional dancer from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Having been passionate about dance since his early childhood, he decided to enter art school after obtaining his baccalaureate.
Gueassa Eva Sibi
Côte d’Ivoire
Gueassa Eva Sibi joined the Moaye Ivoire company in 2015 and has participated in several festivals such as the Rind Dance festival (Massidi Adiatou, 2016), the opening of the eighth games of the Francophonie and the festival Danse Raum of Jennie Mezile. She is currently a dance student at the National Institute of Arts and Cultural Action (INSAAC).
Carmelita Siwa
Benin
Originally from Benin, Carmelita Siwa is a dancer and actress. With a degree in project management, she is also now a graduate of École des Sables. She teaches Afro-urban, contemporary awakening and initiation dances at the Centre Chorégraphique Multicorps and at the French school of Cotonou. Now artistic director of Arts Ca’Danser, she has choreographed multiple works, including (in)secure with Didja Kady Tiemanta.
Amadou Lamine Sow
Senegal
Amadou Lamine Sow, known as Pim, is a dancer, performer and teacher, mainly focused on different traditional African dance but trained in several styles including contemporary, house, hip-hop and Afropop. He is member of the Senegalese National Ballet, La Linguére, and graduated from the Alvine Academy Ailey Senegal. He is also choreographer for the Sunu Percu dance company and artistic director of the Festival International Jakarlo.
Didja Kady Tiemanta
Mali
Born in Ivory Coast, Didja Kady Tiemanta is a dancer and actress who lives and works in Bamako, Mali. Since receiving her master’s degree in dance from the Bamako Conservatory in 2017, she has trained at multiple dance schools including École des Sables and CCD la Termitière. She has choreographed multiple works, including (in)secure with Carmelita Siwa, and was an educational and artistic assistant for dance festival Fari Foni Waati in 2021.
Aziz Zoundi
Burkina Faso
Aziz Zoundi is a dancer, artist, and performer from Burkina Faso. He is currently training through workshops in dance, theatre and music at the Bouamani Africa Centre. He is also part of the training program in contemporary dance at CDC La Termitière, Je Danse Don Je Suis et Yeleen don.