Published February 2001 

AfriContemporary

Burkina Faso's Salia ni Seydou rework tradition

As part of the flurry of Afrocentric cultural material that Harbourfront Centre is programming for African Heritage Month, the African contemporary dance company Salia ni Seydou is making its Toronto debut. The company derives much of its artistic inspiration from the traditional culture of its home country of Burkina Faso, but its members are by no means folk artists. Rather, they are working in the world of contemporary dance.

Named for its two principal artists, Salia Sanon and Seydou Boro, Salia ni Seydou won the People's Choice Award in 1999 at Montreal's very highly regarded FIND (Festival International de Nouvelle Danse). Because both principals trained originally as actors before moving into dance (a distinction which is admittedly more rigid in North America than in Africa), their work is characterized by an imagistic theatricality. The piece they presented in Montreal is the same one that they are bringing to Harbourfront, entitled Figninto. It is their second international success, after their inaugural touring piece, called The Century of Fools (1995), and has won awards and acclaim in Africa and Europe.

In the Bambara language the word Figninto means a person who does not see. The title refers not to physical blindness, but the kind of failure to perceive that causes human beings to distance themselves from those around them. In particular, it describes the condition of a man who fails to communicate with his friend until death makes communication impossible. Figninto speaks of the difficult task of learning how to truly inhabit ourselves by truly inhabiting the lives of others.

Along the way Salia ni Seydou refer to and transform the specific vocabulary of traditional African dance by incorporating it into their own stylistic blend. The Burkina Faso publication Le Pays said that "With Salia ni Seydou, who have chosen to dance in a different way, the human body has become an animated, plastic object that externalizes intention and feeling. Figninto is a spectacle where the dancers glide successively and sometimes simultaneously among infancy, folly, and reason, thereby presenting an accurate picture of humans."

The company's two principal performer/choreographers both perform in Figninto. They are joined onstage by dancer Souleymane Badolo and two live musicians: Dramane Diabate on percussion and Tim Whinsey on music bow, who both take an active part in the performance.

After their Toronto run Salia ni Seydou will travel to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and to Halifax before they return to their current home, the National Center of Choreography in Montpelier, France, where they have worked since 1993.

Salia ni Seydou is part of Harbourfront's Kuumba programming. They will appear from February 6 to 10 at the Premiere Dance Theatre. For tickets call the Harbourfront Box Office at 416-973-4000.

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