Vonvonli

Vonvonli was born out of the fear experienced by choreographer Kossivi Sénagbé Afiadegnigban in 2014, when he had just broken his knee and feared he would never be able to dance or practise his art again. Its title, in Togo’s Ewe language, means « fear exists » but also, depending on the vocal intonation, « the shadow« . This double meaning suggests that fear is an inescapable feeling that pursues us everywhere, but can also be a driving force. 

Vonvonli explores the fears and anxieties of the human condition : fear of danger, of death. But also more abstract fears: of the unknown, of others, of not measuring up. Fear generated by the uncertainty of everyday life, where everything can change at a moment’s notice, and the growing uncertainty of the future. The performance also questions the individual’s capacity for change and adaptation. How do we face our fears? How do we tame them and transform them into energy? 

A tangle of hundreds of clothes from Hédzranawoé, Lomé’s large second-hand market, the wide curtain draping the back of the stage illustrates the multitude of fears, scars and traumas accumulated over the course of a lifetime, which pile up, hide and disguise themselves. A place where fears are clung to and abandoned, this ‘wall’ also symbolises the initiation rituals and practices of Togolese culture, which force us to overcome these emotions in order to better tame them. A traditional song in the Ewe language, sung at funerals, in battle or to counter adversity, invokes the figure of the fearless ram who does not give up and charges resolutely at the obstacle. Performed live by the choreographer, it galvanises the dancers and gives them the strength and courage to face the shadow of their fears.

Vonvonli is the fruit of an initial research project carried out with participants in Traditional Dance and Creator of Today training programme (DTCA), led by Kossivi Sénagbé Afiadegnigban in July 2021 in Lomé. Winner of the Institut Français’ Résidance programme, the project has benefited from a second period of research with the contribution of Nadia Beugré. Supported by the Institut Français du Togo in 2022, then in 2023 by the Institut Français and the Togo Créatif programme (Institut Français du Togo, Goethe Institut, European Union), with the contribution of Andréya Ouamba, the play was performed for the first time in its complete version on 20 January 2023, at the Institut Français du Togo in Lomé, and will be touring in Tunisia (Festival de danse de Carthage, June 2023), Ivory Coast (Festival de danse contemporaine d’Abidjan, September 2023) and Mozambique during the Kinani Festival – Biennale Danse en Afrique (November 2023).

Source : Document Vonvonli, Compagnie Sol’Oeil d’Afrik, 2023. Kossivi Sénagbé Afiadgnigban’s interview, by Anne Décoret-Ahiha, Lomé, June 7th 2023.

This video was registered thanks to the support of the Institut Français, the Metropole de Lyon and the City of Lyon as part of the 2023 – 2024 project “Development of a digital resource on African choreographic creation and a tool for artistic training, art criticism and cultural mediation in Benin and Togo” led by Dr Anne Décoret-Ahiha.