OUR COMPANIONS
Serge Aimé Coulibaly
Artistic Director/Choreographer
Addressing the complexity of the world with clear expressions and emotions, accessible to everyone, layman or beginner. What responsibility can we take on, each of us, each at our own level, to bring hope? And there is also the laugh of Serge Aimé, powerful, frank and communicative : hear it only once and you will never forget it !
His inspiring words : “If you have only one tooth, make sure it is white.”
His guide : Thomas Sankara
Training years : compagnie FEEREN (Burkina Faso), Amadou Bourou, CNC de Nantes, Claude Brumachon, Danse à Lille.
Met along the way : Alain Platel, Sibi Larbi Cherkaoui, Rachael Swain, Nathalie Cornille, Farid Berki, Julie Dossavid.
Sigué Sayouba
Assistant Choreographer/Dancer
As solid as a rock, calm in his strength, sensitive, listening to the world, expressive and generous, Sigue shares : his dance, his culture, his passion and his friendship. He has been with us since 2006 ; choreographer of the Teguerer company, today he is creating his own company.
His inspiring words : “100% of the things we don’t try, fail” Wayne Gretzky
Guide : Cheikh Anta Diop
Training Years : self-taught, traditional african dances, contemporary dance, Teguerer Company (Ouagadougou), all the artists met on the way.
Met on his way : Irène Tassembedo, Kathrin Wehlisch, Souleymane Porgo.
Manon Alzieu
Dancer/Choreographer
Dance is in Marion’s heart since her childhood ; she explores movement, inhabits her body with her originality and has fashioned her own vocabulary with all her grace and feminity, between gentleness, willpower and animality. In 2014 she created her company, Compagnie Ma’ and a solo Ceci n’est pas une femme blanche, (This is not a white woman) which won several awards in international competitions. She has been with us since 2014.
Her inspiring words : « Nothing is impossible. We are only limited by fear, even that we can overcome. » Seth Morrison
Guides : Camille Claudel, Jimi Hendrix
Training Years : Hip hop, ballet, contemporary dance, Emmanuel Gat, Lisi Estaras, Salia Sanou.
Met on her way : Emmanuel Gat, Jasmin Vardimon, Mouvements perpétuels (Salia Sanou), Amala Dianor, Hervé Chaussard.
AHmed SOURA
Dancer
What we notice first about Ahmed, is his expressivity and his presence on stage that is pure electric ! A beautiful energy that he likes to share generously, with his partners, invigorating creativity, and with the public . He created KORO / Company Ahmed Soura and Yongonlon Production in Burkina Faso and his solos En opposition avec Moi and 166 received international prizes in 2011 and 2013. He danced with the Deutsche Oper Berlin Opera Ballet and worked as soloist-dancer with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Inspiring words : “A person who has never made any mistakes has never tried to innovate” Albert Einstein
Guide : Thomas Sankara and his father
Training Years : 10 years of self-taught acrobatics and break dance, 4 editions of the ‘Dialogue de Corps’ festival of Salia Ni Seydou, CAP at the National Institute for Artistic and Cultural Training in Burkina Faso, ‘EXERCE’ at the Choreographic Centre of Montpellier in France.
Met on his way : Irène Tassembedo, Christoph Schlingensief, Christoph Winkler, Pink Mama Theater, Louise Wagner, Ballet de Lausanne/ Maurice Béjart, Abissa / Joseph Aka, Corp’Art / Yvon Nana Kouala, Joachim Schloemer, Regina Rossi & Greta Granrath.
JEAN ROBERT KOUDOGO-KIKI
Dancer
Jean Robert Koudogbo Kiki, alias Robbi, born in 1986 in Burkina Faso, is part of a generation with a more than ambitious profile, resilient and curious. He was a trainee in the training programme “Je Danse donc Je Suis“ (2010/2012) led by Salia Sanou and Seydou Boro at CDC la Termitière.
Robbi is poetic and generous in interpretation. He is a crazy dancer, patient and has developed an extraordinary sense of listening.
As a dancer with Faso Danse Théâtre since 2017, he has managed to take over roles with a great sense of the perfection of representation, always remaining committed to his convictions.
For him, generosity starts from the loving look we have on ourselves and transpose to our fellow man, as the starting point of a more just world.
The words that inspire him: “Be generous, but don’t expect the world to be generous to you, because it won’t always be“ His mother
“Dreams are not what you see in your sleep, dreams are things that don’t let you sleep“ Christiano Ronaldo
People who accompanied him: his mother, Cristiano Ronaldo, Thomas Sankara, Nelson Mandela.
People he met along the way: Andréya Ouamba, Prosper Kompaoré, Salia Sanou, Seydou Boro, Lebeau Boumpoutou, Olivier Tarpaga, Anne-Marie Porras.
IDA FAHO
Dancer
Vigorous energy and gentleness, sensuality and technique, Ida affirms on stage a strong feminine presence, grounded, necessary.
Inspiring words : « La vie, ce n´est pas avoir et obtenir mais être et devenir. »
Guide : Irène Tassembedo
Training years : théâtre, dance, EDIT (Ouagadougou), Ecole des Sables, Germaine Acogny, Pavillon Noir, Angelin Preljocaj.
Met on the way : Irène Tassembedo, Helge Letonja, Opiyo Okach, Pierre Doussaint.
ANTONIA NAOUELE
Dancer
An explosion of energy and creativity ! Extremely inventive, Antonia always proposes a unique way of motion. Curious about everything, she loves experiences and meetings that enrich and stimulate her.
Words that inspire her : “No man is a prophet in his own land”
Guide : Robert Mugabe
Training years : traditionnal Cameroun dances, urban African dances, contemporary dance, step dance, Salia Sanou, Michel Ndjongui, Merlin Nyankam, Aida C.Diaz, Farid Berki.
Met on her way : Soul Step, Floor Art Crew, Soldiers X, Hyacinthe Tobio.
Bibata Maiga
Dancer
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.
Marco labellarte
Dancer
Marco 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).
JOLIE NGEMI
Dancer
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.
ZORA SNAKE
Dancer
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.
HERMAN COULIBALY
Light Technician
Full lights, low angled or spot lights, all the way down to pitch black, Hermann knows all the nuances of shade and light and he uses them with subtlety to light up what is said and what is danced. Indispensable !Hermann has been illuminating us since 2008.
Inspiring words : “The slave that is not able to assume his revolt does not deserve that we pity his fate”, Thomas Sankara
Guide : Thomas Sankara
His training Years : stage management at the Institut Français (Ouagadougou), tour management at the Choreographic Development Centre (Ouagadougou), Lightning control console ETC at the Center of Professional Training in Show Techniques (Paris).
Met on his way : Festival de théâtre Les Recreatrales, Festival de Danse Dialogues de Corps, Etienne Minoungou, Amadou Bourou
Dag jennes
Stage Manager
Dag has worked in the performing arts sector all his professional life. As a technician, he helped create small and large productions and toured with them at home and abroad. He was head technician at the cultural centre of Mortsel for more than 15 years. For over a year now, he has been working again as a freelance stage technician, production supervisor and stage manager for Hetpaleis, Laika and…Faso, among others.
thomas verachtert
Technical Director
Thomas Verachtert is technical director at Faso Danse Théâtre and stage manager at Opera Ballet Flanders.
He previously worked as a technical and production coordinator at Het Nieuwstedelijk and toured as a technician with Transparant, Braakland/ZheBilding, Bronks and Kopergietery.
He is trained as stage technician and prevention advisor.
Sara vanderieck
Dramaturg
Sarah, is the meeting of opposites, curiosity and sensitivity made flesh ! She likes to explore off road : taking the time to explore and to build. Her outlook, fair, rich with a multitude of experiences, is invaluable.
Inspiring words : “May your choices reflect your hopes not your fears.” Nelson Mandela
Guide : Slavoj ŽižekH
Her training Years : Royal Institute For Theater, Cinema and Sound (Brussels).
Met on her way : Alain Platel, Lisi Estaras, TG Stan, Tristero, Bára Sigfúsdóttir, Claron McFadden, Naïf Productions.
Thomas prédour
Artistic Advisor
CATHERINE COSME
Scenographer/Costume Designer
Catherine likes stages. Cinema or theatre, it doesn’t matter ! She is passionate about the stage, the scenery, the costumes, the lighting and the sound, all these important details that write and tell stories.
By making other’s work possible, she little by litte let her desire of making a film come to life : it will be a first short film, Les Amoureuses (The Lovers) and a second personal project for a shoot in October 2017 Une Famille (A Family).
Inspiring words : “A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. ” Shakespeare, King Lear.
Guides : Barjavel, Julien Gracq, Jonathan Franzen, Pina Bausch, Ryan McGinley, Sam Mendes, Martin Scorsese, her friends, her family.
Training Years : l’Ecole nationale supérieure des arts visuels de La Cambre (La Cambre Visual Arts School, Brussels), scenography, artistic direction.
Met on her way : Stephan Streker, Mathieu Donck, Nicolas Guiot, Vincent Dietschy, Géraldine Doignon, Collectif de l’Argument, Thierry Debroux, Mickael Bier, Cie Mossoux Bonté, Mickael Hers, Benoît Mariage, Collectif DRAO.
EVE MARTIN
Video Creator
Eve sparkles, loves, imagines and puts into images ; creates scenery, whips out her camera and photographs or films whatever touches her. The Book of Lila, Terra Sola and Black Forest are short films that came from her fertile imagination.She has accompanied us on stage since 2013.
Inspiring words : “if fire was burning my house, what would I take ? I’d like to take the fire… ” Jean Cocteau
Guide : Jean Cocteau
Her training Years : music videos, advertising, decorating, live video installations.
Met on her way : Micha Wald, Bouli Lanners, Delphine Noels, Patrice Toye, Virginie Gourmel, Joachim Lafosse, Fien Troch, Eric Lavaine, Stéphan Kazadjan, Remi Bezançon, Michel Gondry, Brice Cauvin, François Xavier, Benoit Mariage, Tom Darmstaedter, Mathieu Donck and Eric Valette, les Frères Malandrain.
YVAN TALBOT
Composer
Talk to him about bolons, the baala drum, the kondé lute, about bougarabous or about the bara, and he will bring you with him on his journeys to the heart of these original instruments in West Africa. Yvan is passionate, and this quality can be heard in his music.
Inspiring words : “Happy are the cracked ones, because they let the light through” Michel Audiard
Guide : Anders Trentemoller
Training Years : Conservatory studies in traditional music (CA and DE), Guinean art and cultural studies, mandinka instrument maker, the streets and the cities of the villages in West Africa, computer aided music, samplers.
Met on his way : Elsa Wolliaston, Julie Dossavi, Merlin Nyakam, Anthony Egéa, Bouba Landrille Tchouda, Kader Attou.
FRANS BROOD PRODUCTION
Touring
Frans Brood Productions is an organisation in Ghent that has concentrated on the international touring of performing arts since 1983. The focus is both on contemporary dance productions and a range of theatre and circus, in venues, in the open air or at site specific locations.
Over the years we have built up a large network worldwide. Consequently, the artists we represent appear in theatres, at festivals and other events all over the world.
Commitment to individual theatre-makers and working closely together with companies gives us great satisfaction. Nevertheless, our task also includes close consultation with programmers and supporting innovative artistic projects.