BIOGRAPHIES
The company Faso Danse Théâtre was founded in 2002 (Bobo Dioulasso/Brussels) by Serge Aimé Coulibaly. Throughout all his creations, 10 to date, the Belgian-Burkinabe choreographer Serge Aimé Coulibaly explores complex themes with the aim of creating a real positive dynamic. His inspiration is rooted in African culture and his art is committed to the need for contemporary, powerful dance, anchored in emotion but always bearer of reflection and hope. His strong expression makes him universal and finds a hearing in different continents. His works are always created partially in Africa and partially in Europe. For Serge Aimé Coulibaly, dance is a social commitment. He questions day to day reality and social evolutions and shares this research with his audience. In his work he examines the interface between personality and involvement, the tension between what the individual experiences or wants to say on the one hand and what the commitment to a better world imposes on that individual on the other. On the basis of his engagement, he developed a creative process that starts from the duality principle. Every movement that moves through the body triggers an opposite movement. Every form of energy is accompanied by a second form. This brings body and mind into a state in which intuition and urgency take control.
Serge Aimé Coulibaly is a dancer and choreographer from Burkina Faso. He was born in Bobo Diou- lasso, and has worked in Europe and the rest of the world since 2001. His inspiration is rooted in African culture and his art is committed to the necessity of powerful contemporary dance. A dance rooted in emotion but also the bearer of reflection and hope. His vigorous expressiveness makes his work universal and finds a response on several continents. Since he set up his Faso Dance Théâtre company in 2002, Serge Aimé Coulibaly has been exploring complex themes, with the desire to offer young people a genuine positive dynamism. His productions have been presented in many theatres all over Europe and Africa and also been invited to several festivals. These include Kalakuta Republik (2016), Nuit Blanche à Ouagadougou (2014), Fadjiri (2013), Khokuma 7° Sud (2011), Babemba (2008), Soli- tude d’un Homme Intègre (2007), A Benguer (2006), Minimini (2002). His open view of the world and of differences, which he always questions, plus his constructive energy and will to persevere, has led to collaboration with several other artists since the beginning of his career. He regularly works on international productions, both as a performer and choreographer. He worked with Moïse Touré (La Maladie de la Mort, 2015), with Marrukegu Company in Australia (Cut the Sky, 2014 and Burning Daylight, 2009), with Farid Berki (Double Jeu, 2013), with Julie Dossavi (Cross and Share, 2012), with Alain Platel (C(H)OEURS, 2012 and Wolf, 2003), with Kalpana Raghuraman (I lost my English, 2008) and with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Tempus Fugit, 2004). Serge Aimé Coulibaly’s work, always in motion and fueled by curiosity and generosity, has aroused the interest and confidence of a great many organisations. In addition, his desire and will to share his knowledge has led him to make dance pieces for amateur dancers. During his artistic training with the FEEREN company in Burkina Faso, headed by Amadou Bourou, and afterwards in his time at Le Centre National Chorégraphique de Nantes, under Claude Brumachon, Serge Aimé Coulibaly was able to develop his talent and personal tastes and then transfer them into art. He aims to develop an original creativity and involves the dancers and choreographers who attend his masterclasses in questioning their responsibility as performing artists and the power of the vocabulary that has a significance in their role as citizens. To provide a place for experimentation and concrete reflection for his creations and his concept of artistic commitment, Serge Aimé Coulibaly set up Ankata in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso: an international laboratory for research and production in the performing arts. It’s open to everyone and is a crossroads for exchanges between different continents, disciplines and communities with the common aim of inventing the future.
DANCERS
Marion Alzieu studied at the James Carlès Centre in Toulouse where she trained in classical dance, modern dance and jazz. She then discovered contemporary dance, which led her to take part in the Coline professional training course in Istres from 2008 to 2010. During this period, she got to know several choreographers (Mathilde Monnier, Salia Sanou, Shlomi Tuizer, Lisi Esteras…) and opened herself up to other techniques such as hip-hop, yoga, feldenkrais and pilates. After her training, Marion worked as an intern at Emmanuel Gat. She then joined the company of Jasmin Vardimon, with whom she would work at the Royal Opera in London until 2011. On her return to France she danced with the companies of Hervé Chaussard, Amala Dianor, and Salia Sanou. Since 2014 she has been working with Serge Aimé Coulibaly. In addition to being a performer, Marion also works as a choreographer. She created her first piece in 2013 in Burkina-Faso. In 2014 she created the solo Ceci n’est pas une femme blanche, and started her own company Ma. She undertook solo tours in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and received several awards in European competitions (Spain, Poland, France, Italy). These awards enabled her to complete her third piece, the duet W, in 2019. She also worked on other projects such as the parade for the opening of the Lyon Dance Biennale in 2018, projects for the city of Villeurbanne, and workshops on social reintegration in Albertville. Since 2018, Marion has been teaching in various training centres (I.D. training in Feyzin and drama training in the Calabash Choreographic Centre in Lyon).
Bibata Ibrahim Maiga was born in Gao (Mali) in 1993, obtained a Master II in Dance the Conservatory of Multimedia Arts and Crafts, Balla Fasséké Kouyaté, in 2013. She also graduated from the Ecole des Sables du Sénégal in 2017, after a three-year course in Contemporary African Dance and Choreography. She collaborated with national and international choreographers and participated in various workshops and creative laboratories: the Laboratoire de Kettly Noël, Danse Bamako Dense, Engagement Féminin, Danse Noire de l’école des Sables, Bam Festival, Fari Foni Wati in a creation by Kudus Onikeku, Nadja Begré, and finally with a young Beninois choreographer whose creation Les amazones du roi Behanzin was in the process of being developed. With her own pieces she participated in several festivals: At Dance Bamako she danced in 2016 with the performance Tout à coup, at Bam Festival and Dialogue de Corps she interpreted Crossing together with Kadidja Tiemanta, she performed her solo Esprit Bavard in Marseille at the Festival Les Rencontres à l’échelle, and she also danced in many performances in Bamako. She is also a musician and actress. In November 2019, she joins the company Faso Danse Théâtre to replace a dancer and as a performer for Serge Aimé Coulibaly’s new creation WAKATT.
Jean Robert Koudogbo-Kiki, alias Robbi, was born in 1986 in Burkina Faso. In 2005 he met the dancer and choreographer Lebeau Boumpouto who passed on his passion for contemporary dance to him. Trained with Éloi Bama, alias Gahé, the Teguerer Company and Michel Neya (founder of the group Génération 2000), he danced in Nassongo, a musical comedy by Prosper Kompaoré, playwright and director of the Atelier Théâtre Burkinabè (ATB), with which he toured in France and Luxembourg (2008), and in Entre chiens et loups (Montpellier Danse 2010). In 2010, he joined the project I Dance So I Am. He gave the opening and final performance of FESPACO in 2009, 2011 and 2013 together with choreographers Irène Tassembedo, Salia Sanou and Seydou Boro. In 2014, he danced in Tichèlbè – aires de jeux with Kettly Noel at the Niger Festival. Between 2016 and 2017, he once again danced in Fignintô by Salia Sanou and Seydou Boro during the triennial and the Avignon Festival. In 2017 he was asked to work on the closing ceremony of FESPACO, this time as assistant choreographer next to Seydou Boro and co-choreographed the duet Accept It with Bachir Tassembedo. Later that year he joined Serge Aimé Coulibaly as a dancer for the performances Nuit blanche à Ouagadougou, Kalakuta Republik and Kirina. In 2019 he collaborated with the choreographer Olivier Tarpaga in the piece When the birds refuse to fly and went on an American-European tour with it.
Antonia Naouele, a young Cameroonian dancer and interpreter, is trained in traditional dances and specialized in urban and Afro-urban dances. Since 2011, Antonia has been trained in urban dance with the company Simon Abbey but also in contemporary dance with the choreographers Salia Sanou, Michel Ndjongui, Merlin Nyankam, Serge Aimé Coulibaly, Aida C. Diaz and Farid Berki and with the troupe Soul Step (USA). In parallel, she is a dancer and interpreter with the hip-hop dance groups Floor Art Crew and Soldiers X and in the play Awine of Hyacinthe Tobio, Château Fatou of Yaya Saria, Combibissé of Irène Tassembedo. In 2016, she joined Serge Aimé Coulibaly’s company Faso Danse Théâtre with whom she is participating in 3 creations and touring internationally.
Born in Burkina Faso, Adonis Nébié gained a reputation as an energetic, fast and fluid dancer. He was also the main actor in the plays of the famous Souleymane Porgo, until his tragic death in 2006. Since 2004 he was trained by the choreographer Irène Tassembedo. As a member of her dance company he participates in the plays Souffles, Carmen, Sacre du tempo and Allah garibou. He has performed in the main European and African festivals and theaters, and collaborates or trains with choreographers like Salia Sanou, Seydou Boro, Vincent Montsoe, Opiyo Okach, Gregory Ma- koma, Wim Vandekeybus, Nora Chipaumire, Patrick Acogny, Germaine AcognySince 2011 he collaborates with Serge-Aimé Coulibaly, Vera Sander, Nathalie Veuillet and Kalpana Raghuraman.Together with Sigue Sabyouba and Kafando Idrissa het starts the company Teguerer Danse. In 2012 het creates the solo Looser in El Graner in Barcelona. Me-tisser, in collaboration with the Cie Eolo, is performed in the same year in Lyon. In 2013 he makes Ballet Démocratique, a duo with the Congolese dancer Fanny Mabondzo. Another solo Spirits is presented at the Urban Arts festival in 2014.
Sayouba Sigué is of Burkinese descent and was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Since 2013 he has lived in Lyon. He discovered the world of dance in high school through the cultural activities at school. He made his debut as a dancer of urban dance for video clips and commercials. His encounter with contemporary dance grew into a passion which led him to make it his profession. In 2001 he joined the company Teguerer, where he participated in numerous workshops by different choreographers of different styles and origins. After the death of his mentor Souleymane Porgo in 2006, Sayouba took over as choreographer. Several interesting artistic encounters mark his career: Irène Tassembédo, Gahe Armand, Nathalie Veuillet, Vera Sander, Kalpana Raghuraman, Eric Mezino, Alassane Congo, Kettly Noel… In 2010 he was a finalist in the biggest contemporary dance competition in Africa, Danse l’Afrique Danse with his two performances A Suivre (solo) and Avec des Mots (group performance). In 2015 Sayouba joined the Hamburg SchauspielHaus National Theater under the direction of Karin Beier where he performed for the first time after 4 years. He also choreographed The Colours of Peace for the 18th edition of the parade of the Lyon Dance Biennial in 2018 with 300 amateur dancers and Afriquarks in collaboration with the city of Lyon for 250 dancers…. Since 2015 he is assistant choreographer for Faso Danse Théâtre. At the same time he is also the artistic director of the company Teguerer.
Born in Banfora, Burkina Faso, a dancer (Break-dance and Pop) and self-taught acrobat even before he was 20, Ahmed Soura trained at the National Institute of Artistic and Cultural Training in Burkina Faso and at the Centre Choreographique National of Montpellier from 2003 to 2007. Then Ahmed joined the Burkinabe company of Irène Tassembédo for five years, touring in Africa and Europe. In 2010, Ahmed Soura danced and performed in the opera Via Intollérenza II by Christoph Schlingensief (1st prize for the staging of the Theater Treffen in Berlin in 2011). From 2012, he joined the Opera Ballet Deutsche Oper Berlin with Verdi Requiem, Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen and Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern. In August 2013 Ahmed joined the company Christoph Winkler for Das wahre Gesicht – ein Stück über den Kapitalismus and won the FAUST 2014 award. In the course of 2014, he collaborated with the Swiss company (Berne) Pink Mama Theater with a 2015 tour to Poland. At the same time, he founded KORO / Compagnie Ahmed Soura in Burkina Faso to develop his own choreographic writing and he created solos such as A to, Rien ne m’appartient, Ecrazement 100Sens, En opposition avec moi (3rd dance prize at Internationalen Tanz-Theater Festival – Stuttgart 2011), 166 (second prize at Need to Dance 2013). Since 2014, he regularly teaches contemporary dance courses and traditional dance from Burkina Faso in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Brazil. He still works with Pink Mama, Christophe Winkler, and choreographs his own shows with the Mansoon Theater and joins Serge Aimé Coulibaly’s company Faso Danse Théâtre as interpreter and creator for Kalakuta Républik, Kirina and soon WAKATT!
Jolie Ngemi was born in Kinshasa in 1989, at the age of 12 she decided to make a career in the field of dance. She joined the Jacques Bana Yanga dance group, she broadened her international horizons with her participation in a dance project in 2008 at the American Embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Shortly afterwards she was selected by Thomas Steyaert for a tour with 7 other dancers in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. She then participated in dance productions at the KVS, Ultima Vez, Kaaitheater and collaborated with Paul Kerstens, Lokua Kanza, Ula Sicle, Yann Leguay and many others. After a dance internship in New York, she was invited by Danceweb Europe of Impulstaz in Vienna to participate in a three-year P.A.R.T.S. training cycle, from which she graduated in 2015. Since then, she has worked as a professional performer with Baloji at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, on Dorothée Van den Berghe’s film 31 Haltes, on a dance project by David Zambrano and with Boris Charmatz at the Musée de la Danse. WAKATT is her first creation with Serge Aimé Coulibaly.
Zora Snake is the stage name of the Cameroonian artist Zobel Raoul Tejeutsa, born in 1990. He has his own company in Yaoundé and is looking for a new form of expression between contemporary dance, traditional African dance and hip-hop. With his dance he wants to offer hope in the midst of the contemporary struggle on a political and international level and he fights for his place in the dance sector. He calls himself a revolutionary, a dreamer, a boxer, an anti-conformist and a warrior. In May 2019 he won the dance contest in Ankata (Serge Aimé Coulibaly’s dance laboratory in Bobo-Dioulasso) Africa-Simply The Best. Together with the other two winners, he is preparing for an international tour in 2021. In the meantime Serge Aimé Coulibaly invited him as a dancer for WAKATT. At the same time, Zora Snake is touring festivals in public spaces with his performance Transfrontalieret and has been directing for several years the festival Modaperf which he created himself around performing arts and which takes place in the three most important cities of Cameroon.
Marco Labellarte was born in Milan in 1993. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Intercultural Communication and he also holds a professional training diploma in contemporary dance from the Accademia Susanna Beltrami (partner of the DANCEHAUSpiù project – National Dance Production Centre in Milan). Marco followed and gave workshops with various companies and dancers, such as Wuppertal Tanztheater (with Scott Jennings, Julie Anne Stanzak and Nayoung Kim), Les Ballets C de la B (with Serge Aimé Coulibaly and Ido Batash) and Troubleyn – Jan Fabre (with Matteo Sedda). He also collaborated as a performer in several pieces by Stefano Fardelli. Today he is working with Susanna Beltrami’s company on the piece Ballade (original musicby Cesare Picco).
MUSICIANS
Malik Mezzadri/Magic Malik, born in 1969 in Côte d’Ivoire, grew up in Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, where he started at the age of six playing the recorder and the flute. At the age of seventeen he left Guadeloupe for Marseille, where two years later he won his first prize at the conservatory. He also discovered jazz there, after which he enrolled in the CIM, the jazz class in Paris. In Paris he joined the reggae group Human Spirit, with which he toured for 10 years. His musical encounters are many; he plays and arranges for Lio, Teri Moise, Laurent Garnier, Saint Germain, Dj Gilb’R, FFF, Malka Family,.. In 1992 he founded his own Magic Malik Orchestra, consisting of 13 musicians, and in 1997 he released his first album Salam Aleikum. In 1999 he accompanied Groove Gang for a one-month world tour. In 2000 he and his Magic Malik Orchestra released a CD under the famous Blue Label. In the years that followed, many interesting international tours and collaborations took place. Malik plays, arranges and writes music for Steve Coleman, M-, Bumcello, Camille, Pierrick Pedron, Hocus Pocus, Oumou Sangaré, Anga Diaz. He is also close to the Belgian Aka Moon, participating in Alain Platel’s dance show Pitié, in which Bach’s Passion According to Saint John was rewritten by Fabrizio Cassol, and with which he then went on tour for two years. Meanwhile, His Magic Malik Orchestra plays many concerts and releases CDs. In 2010 he was invited, together with musician and composer Gilbert Nouno, for a one-year residency at Villa Medici in Rome. After that he was invited to numerous festivals (a.o. in Aix-en-Provence), composes for major orchestras (a.o. the London Chaos Orchestra), and was artist in residence in Royaumont, the European Academy of Music in Aix.
Maxime Zampieri (drummer), born in Roubaix in 1977, graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with the first prize in jazz. In 1996 he won the prize for best young European drummer at the Drummers Meeting in Koblenz, after which he recorded a CD with the other winning percussionists in 1997 and 1998. In 2000 he joined the Magic Malik Jazz Orchestra and travelled around the world, playing at all the major festivals (Montreux, Nice, Glasgow, London, Montreal, Sarajevo, Chicago, New York, Rome, Buenos Aires, Milan, Beijing, Tokyo). He plays the drums on the nine CDs released by Label Bleu and Bee Jazz, and plays together with Steve Coleman, among others. At the same time he toured with Mathieu Boogaerts, Jodelice, and accompanies Piers Faccini, Ibrahim Maalouf, Malia, Norig, Sixun, Cornelius Claudio Kreusch, Grandgambe, Yom, Laurent David, Ornette, etc. He also participated in the musical recordings of the films of Jérôme Lescure and Mange ceci est mon corps by Michelange Quay.
After studying classical piano from 1980 to 1989, Jean-Luc Lehr (bass) started playing bass and double bass, and enrolled in the CIM jazz arrangement course in Paris. He is the regular bassist of the Magic Malik Orchestra (nominated for the Victoire du Jazz in 2014) and also performs with Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Louis Winsberg, Pierre de Bethmann, Toots Thielemans, François Jeanneau, Louis Sclavis, Stéphane Galland, Marc Ducret and others with whom he traveled around the world. Since 2002, he has given master classes all over the world (Royal Academy of Music in London, Conservatoire Supérieur de Liège, Tous-en-Scène in Tours). Today, he has been appointed professor of bass guitar and coordinator of the jazz department of the Perpignan Conservatory.
CREATIVES
Sara Vanderieck (Dramaturgy) obtained her degree in theatre directing at RITS in Brussels. In 2006, she joined les ballets C de la B, first as production manager for VSPRS, pitié! (Alain Platel) and Patchagonia (Lisi Estaras) later as artistic assistant to Alain Platel for Out of Context – for Pina and \ C(H)OEURS and of Lisi Estaras for Dans Dans and Leche. In 2012, she leaves les ballets C de la B to join the artistic direction of De Grote Post a brand-new cultural centre in Ostend. She also starts working as a freelance dramaturg/outside eye for different dance creations from then on. She works with Claron McFadden/Muziektheater Transparant (Lilith, 2012), Serge Aimé Coulibaly/FASO DANSE THEÂTRE (Fadjiri, 2013; Nuit Blanche à Ouagadougou, 2014; GLOED, 2015; Kalakuta Republik, 2016 and Kirina, 2018), Bára Sigfúsdóttir (The Lover, 2015; Tide, 2016 and being, 2017), Ayelen Parolin & Lisi Estaras (La Esclava, 2015), Platform K/les ballets C de la B/Lisi Estaras (Monkey Mind, 2016) and Naïf Productions (La Mécanique des ombres, 2016; des gestes blancs, 2017-2018 ; la chair a ses raisons, 2018).In 2017 she adds another layer to her work. Together with artists Lisi Estaras, Kristien De Proost and Mirko Banovic, Vanderieck is creating When I look at a strawberry, I think of a tongue, a multidisci- plinary collective performance.
With a degree in set design from l’école de la Cambre in Brussels, Catherine Cosme (Set Design) began her career in ciNema as artistic director and chief set designer. She has worked on many projects including Noces and Le monde nous appartient, directed by Stephan Streker, the TV series La trève, directed by Matthieu Donck and the Cri du Homard by Nicolas Guiot, which was awarded with the César for the best short film in 2013. In theatre she is a set designer and decorator, even a costume designer. She works with Serge Aimé Coulibaly , Maïa Sandoz and Thierry Debroux… Very quickly, through observation of the relations between actors and the director, she decided to develop a second talent in parallel : writer and director. She directed her first full length film “Les amoureuses” in 2015, “Familie” in 2019.
Giacinto Caponio (Light Design) was born in 1986 and lives and works in Brussels. After his training as stage manager, he began to work in various technical positions in the performing arts sector and continued on his own as an audiovisual technician. His interest lies mainly in the use of video images as a light source, the interaction with real space and the use of live cameras. He is the technical director of the company ARTARA/Fabrice Murgia. He has worked as a videographer, lighting designer and set designer for numerous directors and cultural institutions including Fabrice Murgia, Jaco Van Dormael, Vincent Hennebicq, Le Théâtre National Wallonie- Bruxelles, Antivj, Les Brigittines,
