Irène Tassembédo

Originally from Burkina Faso, Irène Tassembédo has been developing a new approach to African dance in Europe since the early 1980s, one that is in tune with the times and constantly reinventing itself while drawing on its roots. An eclectic artist, she has worked with director Matthias Langhoff since 1993. Returning to Burkina Faso in 2007, she set up the ÉDIT (Irène Tassembédo International Dance School) with the aim of developing a high-level professional training programme for African dancers and choreographers. She is artistic director of the Ouagadougou International Dance Festival (FIDO), which she set up in 2013. Since 2015, she has directed several films. An artist resolutely committed to the issue of women in culture, she sees the development of this sector as one of the keys to combating the rise of radicalism and building the resilience of African peoples in the face of the violence of poverty and armed conflict.

Source: Centre national de la danse