Faustin Linyekula
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Faustin Linyekula (born February 27, 1974[1] in Ubundu, Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo[2][3]) is a Congolese dancer and choreographer of contemporary dance.[4] His works are structured along the lines of the dance and music nights centered around the dance form Ndombolo and it associated music,[5] and address "the legacy of decades of war, terror, fear and the collapse of the economy for himself, his family and his friends."[6]
As of 2007 he is based "between Kisangani and Kinshasa"; Kinshasa has been his personal and artistic home since 2001. He is also teaching in Africa, Europe (Cork, Brussels, Utrecht) and in the United States and is part of a think tank with other African artists and intellectuals around the creation of an arts center near Cape Town. In addition, he has expressed the intention to "inscribe his work in a territory" by developing a series of neighbourhood cultural centers in Kisangani, centered around performing and visual arts.[6]
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[edit] Family background
Linyekula was born and raised in a "multilingual, multicultural" environment,[7] in a Roman Catholic family. Because of the restrictive laws under the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko his Christian name, Faustin, could not appear on any legal documents until the late 1990s.[1]
[edit] Career
According to Toba Singer, Linyekula studied literature and theater in Kisangani (in northeast Zaire, his native region).[8] The universities in Zaire were soon shut down;[3] he went to Nairobi, Kenya,[6] where he remained until 1996, after which he briefly "became involved in theater" in London, but "England began to view me with suspicion because of having lived in two countries on the African continent".[3] He returned to Kenya, where took a dance theater workshop taught by Ivoirian Alphonse Tiérou[9] In 1997 co-founded the Gàara company with mime Opiyo Okach and dancer Afrah Tenambergen, the first contemporary dance company in Kenya[3][6][10] and his first experience as a choreographer.[1] He then traveled to France where he took up a residency first with choreographer Régine Chopinot and then with Mathilde Monnier, and to the Tanzwochen Festival in Vienna, Austria where he and South African dancer Gregory Maqoma created Tales off the Mud Wall (2000).[6]
Returning to the Congo, in June 2001 in Kinshasa he established the Studios Kabako, a structure form multidisciplinary creation and performance, home to his own Faustin Linyekula Company;[6] Brenda Dixon Gottschild, professor emerita of Dance Studies at Temple University characterizes this as choosing "the path of most resistance," given his opportunities in Europe.[11]
In 2003, he choreographed a piece for six hip-hop dancers as part of the Suresnes Cités Danse Festival.[6] The French Centre national de la Danse gave him carte blanche to create a piece in 2005; the result was Le Cargo, with choreography mounted by ten African companies.[6] In 2007, his Festival des mensonges ("Festival of Lies") was presented at the Festival d'Avignon.[12]
He is the winner of the 2007 Principal Award of the Prince Claus Foundation.[2]
[edit] Principal choreographic works
[edit] With Studio Kabako
- Spectacularly Empty I (2001)[6]
- Triptyque sans titre – Fragments et Autres Boues Recyclés ("Untitled Triptych - Fragments and Other Recycled Sludge" 2002)[10]
- Spectacularly Empty II (2003)[10]
- Radio Okapi (2004)[10]
- Le Festival des mensonges ("Festival of Lies", 2005-2006)[10]
- The Dialogue Series: i. Franco (2006)[10]
- The Dialogue Series: iii. Dinozord (2006)[10]
[edit] Others
- Cleansing (1997, with Opiyo Okach, Afrah Tenambergen and la Compagnie Gàara)[10]
- Tales off the Mud Wall (2000, with Gregory Vuyani Maqoma)[10]
- Telle une ombre gravée dans la poussière ("Such a Shadow Etched in the Dust", 2003)[10]
- Mes obsessions : j’y pense et puis je crie! ("My obsessions: I think and then I scream!", 2006)[10]
- Si c'est un nègre / autoportrait ("If that is a Black Man / Self Portrait", (2003)[10]
- La Fratrie errante ("The Wandering Brotherhood (?)", 2007)[10]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Gottschild 2007, p. 3.
- ^ a b 2007 Principal Award: Faustin Linyekula, Prince Claus Foundation. Accessed online 5 December 2007.
- ^ a b c d Toba Singer, An interview with Studio Kabako's Faustin Linyekula, ballet ~ dance magazine. Accessed online 5 December 2007.
- ^ Artists in Residence: Faustin Linyekula, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Accessed online 5 December 2007.
- ^ Gottschild 2007, p. 7.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i (English)(French)Faustin Linyekula, Prince Claus Foundation. Microsoft Word document accessed online 5 December 2007.
- ^ Gottschild 2007, p. 2.
- ^ Toba Singer, "An interview with…", but other sources do not mention this and merely discuss the universities in Zaire being shut down.
- ^ Gottschild 2007, p. 3. Some sources say Alphonse Pierou; this is presumably a typographical error. See Alphonse Tiérou in the French Wikipedia.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m (French) Créations, Studios Kabako. Accessed online 5 December 2007.
- ^ Gottschild 2007, p. 4.
- ^ (French)Festival d'Avignon: Programme: Le Festival Des Mensonges (performances in July 2007). Accessed online 5 December 2007.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates material translated 5 December 2007 from the article of the same name in the French Wikipedia.
- Gottschild, Brenda Dixon (2007), My Africa is Always in the Becoming: Outside the Box with Faustin Linyekula, New York: MAPP International Productions. Essay commissioned by The Africa Comtemporary Arts Consortium and published as a pamphlet by MAPP International Productions, promoters of the of the Festival of Lies 2007 US Tour. A version of this essay can be found on the site of the Walker Art Center, but appears to have some typographical errors.
[edit] External links
- (French) Studios Kabako de Faustin Linyekula, Official site
- Faustin Linyekula at the Internet Movie Database
