Faustin Linyekula
Encyclopedia
Contemporary dance
Contemporary dance is a genre of concert dance that employs compositional philosophy, rather than choreography, to guide unchoreographed movement...
. His works are structured along the lines of the dance form Ndombolo and its associated music and address "the legacy of decades of war, terror, fear and the collapse of the economy for himself, his family and his friends."
Family background
Linyekula was born in UbunduUbundu
Ubundu, formerly known as Ponthierville or Ponthierstad, is a city located in Tshopo District in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is on the Congo River, just above the Boyoma Falls...
, Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
, now Democratic Republic of Congo. He was raised in a "multilingual, multicultural" environment, in a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
family. Because of the restrictive laws under the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga , commonly known as Mobutu or Mobutu Sese Seko , born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, was the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1997...
his Christian name, Faustin, could not appear on any legal documents until the late 1990s.
Career
According to Toba Singer, Linyekula studied literature and theater in Kisangani (in northeast Zaire, his native region). The universities in Zaire were soon shut down; he went to NairobiNairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. In 1997 co-founded the Gàara company with mime
Mime
The word mime is used to refer to a mime artist who uses a theatrical medium or performance art involving the acting out of a story through body motions without use of speech.Mime may also refer to:* Mime, an alternative word for lip sync...
Opiyo Okach and dancer Afrah Tenambergen, the first contemporary dance company in Kenya and his first experience as a choreographer. He then traveled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where he took up a residency first with choreographer Régine Chopinot and then with Mathilde Monnier
Mathilde Monnier
Mathilde Monnier is a French choreographer. She directs the Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon in Montpellier.- External links :*...
, and to the Tanzwochen Festival in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
where he and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n dancer Gregory Maqoma created Tales off the Mud Wall (2000).
Returning to the Congo, in June 2001 in Kinshasa he established the Studios Kabako, a structure form multidisciplinary creation and performance; Brenda Dixon Gottschild, professor emerita of Dance Studies at Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
characterizes this as choosing "the path of most resistance," given his opportunities in Europe.
In 2003, he choreographed a piece for six hip-hop dancers as part of the Suresnes Cités Danse Festival. The French Centre National de la Danse
Centre National de la Danse
The Centre national de la danse is an institution sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture. It studies dance in all its aspects, and is located in Pantin, in northeastern Paris. Centre national de la danse is a source of national pride due to its maintenance of French culture...
gave him carte blanche to create a festival in 2005; the result was Le Cargo, in which appear ten African companies mostly presenting their work for the first time in Europe. In 2007, his Festival des mensonges ("Festival of Lies") was presented at the Festival d'Avignon
Festival d'Avignon
The Festival d'Avignon, or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vilar, it is the oldest extant festival in France and one of the world's greatest...
, as well as Dinozord: The Dialogue Series (2006).
Faustin Linyekula is also teaching in Africa, Europe (Parts / Brussels, CNDC Angers / France, Impulstanz / Vienna, Laban Centre / London...) and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and has been part of a think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
with other African artists and intellectuals around the creation of an arts center near Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
. The think tank resulted in the creation of the Africa Centre
Africa Centre
The Africa Centre is structured as a not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to provide a platform for Pan-African arts and cultural practice to function as a catalyst for social change. All the projects it conducts, facilitates or supports have some social intention...
.
Since 2006, he is based in Kisangani. The Studios Kabako are accompanying there local artistic initiatives in the field of dance, theatre, music and video. In May 9 opened the first professional recording studio of the eastern part of the country. In August 010 started the ground breaking works of a laboratory / residency centre, 8 kilometers from city centre, under the supervision of German architect Baerbel Mueller.
He is the winner of the 2007 Principal Award of the Prince Claus Foundation.
With Studio Kabako
- Spectacularly Empty I (2001)
- Triptyque sans titre – Fragments et Autres Boues Recyclés ("Untitled Triptych - Fragments and Other Recycled Sludge" 2002)
- Spectacularly Empty II (2003)
- Radio Okapi (2004)
- Le Festival des mensonges ("Festival of Lies", 2005–2006)
- The Dialogue Series: i. Franco (2006)
- The Dialogue Series: iii. Dinozord (2006)
- La Fratrie errante (2007)
- more more more... future (2009)
- Pour en finir avec Bérénice (2010)
Others
- Cleansing (1997, with Opiyo Okach, Afrah Tenambergen and la Compagnie Gàara)
- Tales off the Mud Wall (2000, with Gregory Vuyani Maqoma)
- Telle une ombre gravée dans la poussière ("Such a Shadow Etched in the Dust", 2003)
- Mes obsessions: j’y pense et puis je crie! ("My obsessions: I think and then I scream!", 2006)
- Si c'est un nègre / autoportrait ("If that is a Black Man / Self Portrait", (2003), a solo for French dancer Sylvain Prunenec
- Bérénice (2009) by Jean Racine, a commission by the Comédie française in Paris