description of dances

2002/2003

COUCOU
Dance of agility performed by the young men to show their physical strength.

KONG
Senufo dance that took the name from the ancient city oof Kong.

'NGORON

























Dance of the etnic group Senufo performed by the boys and girls that have overcome initiacion. The conclusive cermony is held every seven years, corresponding to the shortest period of initiacion. The girls wait for the return of the young people from the sacred forest, and at their arrival they dance together 'Ngoron. The girls, the breasts uncovered, wear a rafia skirt and a headgear with the long stripes entirely covered with cauri shells. The men enter galloping on minuscule wooden horses supported by suspenders that they hold between the legs. The dance is performed in partership and is extremely long. The dancers perform solo in turns, entering on a step from the basic sequence, improvising, and finishing again on the initial step for the exit. Every movement in the dance has a precise meaning, connected to the initiation and to the values of man and woman.Symbolic movements are sometimes built on the base of realistic elements: for instance one is the image of the mother that lives near the road that the initiates cross returning to the village from the forest. She starts cooking in front of her house to offer the food to the initiates: in the dance the movement of the right hand is that of maintaining alive the fire; while the left arm folded up behind the back represent the child that the mother rhythmically cradles tied up on her back while preparing food. In this way, the child will nit be frightened by the noise of the initiates that draw near.

SIDA


Female dance of joy of the etnic group Akan. The rhythm is slow the movements are round and sinuous; the dancers hold white cloths in their hands (Song: "Omjole").

YAGBA

Courting dance of young girls performed in the moonlight. It expresses grace, softness and beauty. Originated in the etnic group Maouka.

ZIGLE
New choreography by National Ballet of Ivory Coast.

ZIGLIBITI






Dance made popular by star-guitarist Ernesto Dje Dje in the 60's. It belong to the standard repertoire of many professional companies. The choreography is inspired by realistic elements drawn by nature and human activities; with movements that imitate the flight of a bird, a man play guitar, etc. The steps change in correspondence of every new strophe of the accompaning song.

 

2003/2004

KATANA
Dance of the " clairvoyantes" from etnic group Senufo .

FRANZA
New choreography by National Ballet of Ivory Coast, it's a dance where movement is dinamic and powerfull, and contains three different rhythms .

SEMENCE
ZIGIMPE



TEMATE
It is performed in the ceremonies marking the end of the rice harvest, by the village girls and is composed by a long sequence of steps describing the various phases of the rice cultivation. This is danced in the etnic groups Yacouba, Wobe, Guere.

ALIFRET


 

2004/2005

tuesday DJANSA  

ZAGROBI  
wednesday
NADO  
  BAGNON  
wednesday
ZAGA  
thursday
LIBERTE  
friday
ZAOULI