My body, my archive. Dance piece by Faustin Linyekula

In his work My body, my archive, Congolese choreographer and dancer Faustin Linyekula delves deep into his own body, which serves as a tangible archive of his country and his ancestors.


With Banataba (2018), Linyekula created a ritual for his ancestors and took over the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, which was undergoing renovation at the time, as part of the Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels). Now he continues his search for a family archive destroyed by history, fragments of which are scattered between his body and the Congo. For this performance, he embarks on a journey through his own artistic work and family history, focusing on what was often missing from his family’s genealogy: the stories of the women. He pays tribute to them and commemorates them with a series of wooden statues commissioned from Gbaga, a sculptor from Lengola.


He is accompanied by Heru Shabaka-Ra from the Sun Ra Arkestra on trumpet.


In this moving dialogue, maternal ancestors recount the past in the land of the Lengola (a people and their language in the Democratic Republic of Congo) while Faustin Linyekula dances their presence in his present life.


“It has now been over 20 years since I began bringing my stories to the stages of the world. Today, I feel the need to pause and revisit this archive of personal creations, to question it. What parts of my body did I bring to each of these pieces? And above all: what traces have these pieces left on my body and my gestures?” (Faustin Linyekula)


Participants

• Choreography and dance: Faustin Linyekula
  
• Trumpet: Heru Shabaka-Ra
  
• Sculptures: Gbaga
  
• Sound design and video: Franck Moka
  
• Costumes design: Aldina Jesus
  
• Dramaturgy: in dialogue with Eric Vautrin
  
• Dramaturgy assistant: Dorcas Mulamba
  
• Lighting design in collaboration with: Christophe Glanzmann
  
• Additional music: Jamos (percussions), Passero (percussions), Mobeti (percussions), Joachim Montessuis (Nierica)
  
• Production: Studios Kabako / Isaac Yenga
  
• Coproduction: Chaillot – Théâtre National de la danse, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
  

With support from: Arts and Humanities Division, New York University Abu Dhabi


Special thanks to Catherine Wood and the Tate Modern, Londres


- 20 EUR / reduced 10 EUR
- Please book your ticket in advance online or at the box office in the Foyer
- 12 years and older
- English
- For the hearing-impaired
- Ground Floor, Hall 2