Root(s)(ed): first edition

Programme

Artist talk with Koffi Kôkô, Awoulath Alougbin and the musician of Aro Ilè: Angelo Moustapha

Dancer and choreographer Koffi Kôkô is recognised as one of the instigators and most prominent members of the contemporary African dance scene. He lives and works in Benin and France. Born in Benin in West Africa, Koffi Kôkô had a deep connection with his country’s animist religion while growing up. From the outset, this connection would feed Koko’s artistic interest in a dance form, the initiatory and ritual character of which would go on to form the basis of his understanding and re-creation of contemporary dance and theatre culture.

This symbiosis would find an echo in Koffi Kôkô’s collaborations with the greatest names in western dance and theatre. He has worked with people such as Pierre Doussaint, Bruno Boêglin, Shiro Daimon and Yoshi Oida, Gabriel Gbadamosi, flamenco dancer Mari Carmen Gracia and Peter Badejo. He has also worked alongside Ismael Ivo, with whom he created an adaptation of Jean Genet’s “Les Bonnes”, directed by Yoshi Oida, which was a resounding success in Berlin, Vienna, London, Paris, São Paolo and Seoul, and received Time Out’s award for Best Production of the year in 2003. In 2004 and 2005, Koffi Kôkô was artistic director of the In Transit international festival at the Maison des Cultures du Monde in Berlin.

The premiere of his most recent solo production La Beautè du Diable was held during the Fribourg Juilletdanse International Festival in June 2011. In December, La Beautè du Diable was performed in São Paulo in Brazil. During 2012 and 2013, the production was performed at various festivals: La Biennale di Venezia Danza in Venice, Cena Contemporânea Festival Internacional de Teatro in Brasilia and ImPulsTanz in Vienna, at Tanzhaus NRW, Dusseldorf, at the Akademie der Kunste in Berlin and at the Festival Torinodanza in Turin, Italy.

Koffi Kôkô is also internationally renowned as a teacher in Europe, Africa and the US.

Artist talk with Chris Lange & Kopano Maroga

Chris Lange (she/her) is a dancehall practitioner and a street culture activist. She has been working in the artistic and cultural sectors for several years, and has honed her talent for event planning and production within several organizations, including Timiss. Her work revolves around the notions of community, warmth and circularity.

Kopano Maroga (they/them) is a performance artist, writer and cultural worker. They are currently living in Brussels, Belgium and working as a curator and guest-dramaturge at Kunstencentrum Vooruit in Ghent, Belgium. Their debut anthology of poetry, Jesus Thesis and Other Critical Fabulations, was released through uHlanga press in December of 2020. They very much believe in the power of love as a weapon of mass construction.