African Dance: Sand, Drum, and Shostakovich

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:30:00 GMT

African Dance: Sand, Drum, and Shostakovich
Buy Now: $320.00

This documentary explores African contemporary dance through eight modern dance companies from Africa, Europe and Canada that participated in the Festival International de Nouvelle Danse in Montreal, Canada in 1999. Interviews, including those with dance historians Yacouba Konate and Alponse Tierou, add insight to beautifully-photographed performances.

What emerges is a fascinating diversity of contemporary African dance themes and styles. Exploring the interactions between tradition and modernism, the consequences of colonization and urbanization, the self-expression of women through dance, and the roles of masculinity and family relationships, the film is a unique source of information and inspiration for dancers, dance historians, choreographers, critics, as well as those interested in African culture, past and present.

"More than ever, as a forum for cross-cultural exchanges, this ninth edition of the Festival showcases African dance because it appears to be undergoing a cultural and artistic renaissance nurtured by the contact and clash between tradition and modernity, and by a reevaluation of its global links. The young choreographers visiting us from Abidjan, a dance capital in Central Africa, from Ouagadougou and Johannesburg, are creating their own special vocabularies, with echoes from ancestral lands and sprawling urban centers. In their works, these artists are living Africa's present and future, with all the anxiety or confidence that this may entail."
— Festival International de Nouvelle Danse, Montreal, Canada

"The idea of a developing African dance avant-garde is still unfamiliar in North America, where classes in traditional African dance remain popular, as do touring African dance companies. [The film's] virtue is the cogency with which the choreographers explain their ideas and provide the link between their very different pieces. The basic theme is that modern dance in Africa, even if influenced by the West, remains rooted in Africa because it is danced by Africans."
— Anna Kisselgoff, NY Times, 01/10/03

"…a very important documentation for the development of modern African dance for this period of time!"
— Kajo Nelles, Director of the International Dance Fair, Germany

"It would be excellent to show all of our dance classes, especially our history and performance classes…"
— Gail Hoak, Dance Chair, Mt. San Jacinto College, California

Dance performances and companies featured in the film include:

Incantation, Compagnie Danse Nyata-Nyata, Canada/Congo

Le Coq Est Mort, Compagnie Jant-Bi, Germany/Senegal

Phokwane, Mpheyane, Vincent Mantsoe, South Africa

Figninto, Compagnie Cie Salia ni Seydo, Burkina Faso

Heritage, Compagnie Sylvain Zabli, Ivory CoastUma

Historia Da Duvida, Compagnie Clara Andermatt, Cape Verde/PortugalDimi, Compangnie Tehetche, Ivory CoastPour Antigone, Comagnie Mathilde Monnier, France/Burkina Faso/Mali

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

University of Florida, Movement Revolution Dialogues: Contemporary Performance In and Of Africa, 2004

Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2003

Dance on Camera Film Festival, New York, 2003

Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, Australia, 2003

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African Dance: Sand, Drum, and Shostakovich