In Côte d’Ivoire, from March 13 to 19, 2023, the 6th edition of the Intercultural Circus Meetings of Abidjan (Rica) takes place, with indoor performances by international companies, street performances, workshops, conferences. Objective: to introduce as many people as possible to the circus arts, but also to professionalize the continent’s circus artists. RFI attended the rehearsals of the local troupe Ivoire Cirque Décalé, at the Fabrique Culturelle in Abidjan.
With our correspondent in Abidjan, Marine Jeannin
It’s a small motley troupe rehearsing that morning. Three circus artists from the Swedish company The Vessel, a storyteller and five Ivorian dancer-acrobats who discover the apparatus, suspended above the ground.
Sarah Lett, artist-choreographer of The Vessel, came to present her own show, but also to form the Abidjan company, Ivoire Cirque Décalé. ” It’s quite intensive, as a creationshe explains. They are taught new circus disciplines that they have never touched before. It is above all the aerial fabric, the aerial hoop and the acrobatic lifts. As the artists are mainly dancers, and a little acrobats, they are already very physical and learn very quickly “.
” Ivorians, even without knowing it, also have the circus in their genes”
The whole forms a 40-minute multidisciplinary show that combines the arts of storytelling, circus and dance. A way to strengthen a loose but deep link between Côte d’Ivoire and the circus, explains the choreographer of the Ivorian company Hermann Nikoko. ” Ivorians, even without knowing it, also have the circus in their geneshe assures. But we see it more in the heritage register. The boloye in the north of the Ivory Coast is a very acrobatic dance. We have stilt walkers in the east, and then urban dance, the coupé-décalé, where there is really a lot of talent. This is where this company was born, since they are young urban dancers. The idea, for us, was to discipline them and put them back in the register that suits them best, which is the circus “.
Their show is entitled “Sacred Forest” and warns of the dangers of deforestation… Because the 2023 edition of Rica will be an edition committed to the theme “All Citizens”.