55. benin: Gendarme Couche (Ondulation) – 2010
The Ondulation program is a collaboration of the Benin company Compagnie Walo and Le Grand Cru, a Dutch NGO that carries out professionalization programmes and international dance productions with dance initiatives in developing countries. Le Grand Cru has been working with Walo since the beginning of 2007 through 2 programmes:
Cie Le Grand Cru is a Dutch intercultural dance organization. It initiates professionalization processes with dance companies and choreographers from non-western cultures. These trainings become special, locally created, and international productions. Since the beginning of 2007, Le Grand Cru has been operating regularly with the dance company Walô, whose trainers also train dancers to become teachers.
Ondulation is the result of questions from the art field. Firstly, the express wish of artistic director Rachelle Agbossou and manager Richmir Totah was to present the company internationally, after the regional exposure with Mali, and thus experience how the quality of the company has developed after years of training with Le Grand Cru.
Feri de Geus and Noortje Bijvoets decided to present two works from the young makers' program “A Corps et à Cri” initiated by them, in addition to their own creation. The choice for the two was made by Le Grand Cru on the basis of quality and theme, based on the many years of experience of the choreographers with a Dutch audience.
‘Ondulation' ends with the dynamic play ‘Gendarme couché', about the young people in Benin who are on the one hand stuck in traditions and family ties and on the other are at the heart of modern life. The choreography is surprising and exactly what Le Grand Cru and Compagnie Wâlo stand for: a fluid fusion of modern dance and music with the authentic dynamic Benin dance. Interculturalism in optima forma executed in a balance of authenticity and modernism.
Co productions with: Dance company le Grand Cru & Compagny Walo
Executors: 2
Local artists: 8
Workshops: 750 Children in Benin
(10 ws) 279 in netherlands
Target group: modern dancers Africa
Audience: 100 (Benin), 1500 (Netherlands), 350 (Gala)
Amount: 1 (Benin), 11 (Netherlands), 1 (Gala)
Volunteers:
Participating Organizations: Compagny Walo (Rachelle Agbossou)
Finances: Theatre Embassy. St Doen, Dutch Embassy in Benin, NUFFIC
Theme: Modern versus traditional