Africalia '03
By Funmi Adewole
Africalia ’03 contemporary dance platform took place in Brussels from the 12 to the 15th of March this year. The event was a collaboration between IETM (Informal European theatre meeting) and Africalia, Brussels. The morning and afternoons of meeting consisted of discussion sessions between practitioners based both in Europe and Africa, dancers, programmers, writers and development managers. In the evenings were for trips to the theatre to watch the eleven dance companies from Africa performing at five venues in the city.
The range of artistic expression on offer suggested that contemporary African dance couldn’t to be defined by technique or dance form or even a singular approach to the use of African dance forms on stage. The defining factor seemed to the ethos of Contemporary African dance. From the pan-African aesthetic of ‘La traversee du Sud’ choreographed by the directors of Companie Salia nii Seydou and Germaine Acogny, to the radical genre-defying work-in-progress by Faustin Linyekula, the presentations were unapologetically theatrical and committed to artistic integrity rather than ‘authentic’ socio-cultural representation.
As it is impossible to promote and sustain an activity with out framing it, the inevitable debate about the definition of contemporary African dance occured during the discussion sessions. The decision to emphasize the ‘African’ or the ‘Contemporary’ of Contemporary African dance seemed to depend on the conviction of programmers about the work and thier response to time, place and the attitude of prospective audiences. The discussion revealed that a number of issues were at stake and it could not simply be put down to stereotyping. Furthermore dance artists positioned themselves in various ways. Another issue that arose was whether African choreographers were being given the chance to develop their own artistic expressions or being simply feed European aesthetics. There were examples of good and bad practice in this regard. On the whole the discussion was refreshing and honest and the last session lead to some intense networking and sharing of ideas and information.
The atmosphere of the Brussels meeting was informed by the importance the organizers placed on developing sustainable structures out of exchanges between Africa and the North. The desire to discourage over-reliance on European funding and go beyond the one-off dance residency and the presentations of formulaic solutions meant the opinions of cultural operators in Africa were valued. As Africa-based operators are the ones at an economic disadvantage this is often not the case.
The next meeting IETM meeting will be taking place in Birmingham in the UK between the 9th and 12th of October 2003. It will be a plenary meeting entitled: ‘Cultural diversity: new realities, new approaches and will include seminar presentations. Information: www.ietm.org, [email protected].
