Root'in

For the third edition of the “Dancing Now! programmed from January 31 to February 8, 2015 in Cotonou, Benin, Fondation Zinsou has commissioned Marcel Gbeffa for a choreographic piece on the double theme of photography and African music from the 1950s to the 1980s. 

Statement of intent : At the heart of this piece, the African music of the sixties and seventies which was listened to throughout French-speaking Africa. Music of a rage, emblematic of the hope of independence. Africa! Promising and revolutionary beginnings, eager to free yourself, what have you become? Already more than 50 years later. Have things progressed, stagnated or worsened? The joy of the first moments gives way to repetition; the infernal repetition of the same attitudes, the same grimaces, the same false smiles. From rebellion to eternal presidencies, from ethnic wars to crushed revolts. People of Africa ! what are you becoming? Do you stay on you? Where are you going ? What routine do you lock yourself into? Everything repeats itself, indefinitely. 

As a preamble to the piece, Marcel Gbeffa improvises a solo of a few minutes, from which this extract is taken. “There is a bit of Vandekeybus in Marcel Gbeffa, notes Patrick Acogny. A physical, wild, even exalted commitment in its dancers. Unlike the latter, he does not seek the exploration of limits, he is not in this energy at the limits of the possible. But we feel he is fascinated by the question of violence and its madness, as well as the limits to which they can lead, wich means death”, Le Journal “Dansons Maintenant! », n°2, 1° February 2015, p. 3. 

Performed on January 31, 2015, Théâtre de Verdure, Institut Français du Benin, Cotonou. 

Source: Multicorps Marcel Gbeffa Company

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.