Florence Gnarigo

Born in 1992 in Natitingou, northern Benin, Florence Gnarigo obtained her DT (Technician in sciences and techniques of art degree), specializing in piano music, from ESMA, a secondary school in Abomey-Calavi, on the outskirts of Cotonou. In 2017, she joined the fourth graduating class of the Irène Tassembedo Dance School (E.D.I.T.) in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), from which she graduated four years later. In 2018, she took part in the “Danse noire” workshop at the Ecole des sables in Senegal. She then joined Irène Tassembedo’s company and danced in the trio Des maux de nous (Carthage danse, June 2019), a piece about the wounds and suffering of young women faced with early motherhood. She also appears in Yiiki! Lève toi! a creation for 12 performers, initially programmed as part of Saison Africa 2020 but performed in September 2021 as part of the “C’est comme ça” festival, at l’Echangeur – CDCN Château Thierry (France). On this occasion, she presents her first solo, Etats de choc, which she began creating during a residency at the Centre chorégraphique Multicorps in Cotonou, in April 2021.

In July 2021, she was selected by Togolese choreographer Kossivi Afiadegnigban for his piece Vonvonli, which toured in Africa in 2022 – 2023.

At the same time, she embarks on a new creation: La Danse des sept tours, in collaboration with actress Florisse Adjanohon (co-production Institut Français du Bénin, Togo Créatif).

In May 2023, Congolese choreographer Delavallet Bidiefono invited her to the Centre de Développement Chorégraphique Baning’art he had created just outside Brazzaville, to reprise the solo Sorcières Kimpa Vita, evoking the historical figure of Kimpa Vita, a young African martyr whose fate was similar to that of Joan of Arc.

Source : Interview of Florence Gnarigo by Anne Décoret-Ahiha, june 10th 2021, June 23th 2023, Cotonou (Benin)