Prière

For its third edition, the contemporary dance festival “Dansons Maintenant! » organized by tFondation Zinsou, in Cotonou,  (January 31 to February 8, 2015), chooses as sponsor of the event the senegalese dancer, choreographer and pedagogue Senegalese born in Benin, Germaine Acogny.
For the opening of the festival, on January 31, 2015, Germaine Acogny performed Solo Prière, a solo of a few minutes created by Gacirah Diagne, a former student of hers at Mudra Afrique, on the occasion of the celebration of the death of Maurice Béjart.
Prayer dance that Germaine Acogny dances « every day, wherever (she) is », as a kind of meditation, this solo performed on the central public place des Martyrs,  served as a danced blessing, intended for  » show the way, that of passing on and taking over between two generations of artists”, his own, as a pioneer, and that of the Beninese dancers trained at the Ecole des Sables (P. Acogny, Journal “Dansons Maintenant!”, n°1, 31 January 2015, p. 5).
Although having performed all over the world, Germaine Acogny had never yet been invited to dance in Benin. The interpretation of Solo Prière, for the first time on the earth of her ancestors, was a very strong and moving moment, for her as for the public.

Sources : 

Valérie Marin La Meslée, « Danse africaine : Germaine Acogny, retour à Cotonou », Le Point, 4 Février 2015.

https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/danse-africaine-germaine-acogny-retour-a-cotonou-04-02-2015-1902329_3.php

Valérie Marin La Meslée, « Afrique : Germaine Acogny, elle fait danser le continent », Le Point, 21 Février 2015, https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/afrique-germaine-acogny-elle-fait-danser-le-continent-21-02-2015-1906759_3.php

Journal « Dansons Maintenant ! », n°1, 31 Janvier 2015, https://issuu.com/fondationzinsou/docs/journal_01_dm3

Journal « Dansons Maintenant ! », n°2, 1 Février 2015, https://issuu.com/fondationzinsou/docs/journal_02_dm3

Jonathan Chalier, Rose Réjouis, « La liberté dans la discipline » : Entretien avec Germaine Acogny, Esprit, Juillet – Aout 2019, pp. 4-7.

The deposit of the video archives of “Dansons maintenant !”, belonging to Fondation Zinsou was made possible thanks to the Centre National de la Danse Research award in dance, granted in 2021 to Dr Anne Décoret-Ahiha for her research project “Consolidation of the African choreographic field: focus on Benin” and with the kind permission of the artists.