La légende de Logwé

The ten dancers and five musicians recount the legend of Logwe through vigorous dances, acrobatics and scenes of wrestling, but also through the language of masks, drums, the musical bow and, above all, those astonishing flutes.

The ten dancers and five musicians recount the legend of Logwe through vigorous dances, acrobatics and scenes of wrestling, but also through the language of masks, drums, the musical bow and, above all, those astonishing flutes. Every year after harvest, in the village of Toma and roundabout, the girls prepare, in groups according to age, to begin the work of the dead season.  Spinning cotton is the most important activity and this is traditionally done by allied families working together, sometimes many tens of kilometres from the village. One day Logwe, a ten-year-old girl, overhears the older girls talking about a proposed journey the following day to a neighbouring village. She offers to go with them, but the others refuse, saying that she is too young. Early next morning, when Logwe sees that they have gone, she decides to follow their in their footsteps. She leaves the village and goes deep into the forest, where she gets lost. She never does find the other girls, or any village, as she is captured by the bush spirits who keep her for three years. Alerted by her disappearance, the villagers organise endless searches, but without success. Logwe is nowhere to be found. Her parents resign themselves to this and consider her to be dead, when one evening in the third year after her disappearance, she reappears. But she is not alone; she is accompanied by three of the spirits who have given her gifts of a mask head, a knife and a flute. When Logwe is of an age to marry, she takes the flute and knife with her when she joins her husband’s family, the chiefs of the land, but she leaves the mask with her parents, the Ki. And ever since, these elements have become strong symbols and cult objects for the population of Toma and the surrounding area. These objects still exist and can be seen, kept by the families who are guardians of the traditions.

Source : Maison de la Danse programme

Credits

Interprétation Les danseurs de LogwéRéalisation vidéo Charles Picq date du document vidéo 1994 production Maison de la Danse Durée de l’œuvre 1h10