In Episode III of CINEMAY’s Season II, May Zarhy will present Germaine Acogny’s work Fagaala (2004). The conception of Fagaalagoes back to the year 2000, when Acogny read Murambi: The Book of Bones (2000)– written by Senegalese writer Boris Boubacar Diop – one of the first fiction books based on the Rwandan genocide. Acogny decided to respond, as an African woman, and to take action by means of her own expression – her body and her gestural language – in order to make her voice heard regarding this genocide (Fagaalameans “Genocide” in Wolof, a language spoken widely in Senegal.) She invited Japanese choreographer Kota Yamazaki to join her in order to mix traditional and contemporary African dance with the unique tradition of Butoh. Created as a ballet – with singing, talking, shouting and dancing, often in a surreal framework – Fagaala simultaneously generates images of madness, beauty, poetry and hope. The piece premiered in 2004 in Tubaab Jallaw (Senegal) and since then has toured in Europe, United States, Australia, Japan and Africa.

The event will be held in English.

Germaine Acogny

Fagaala, 2004

View of the performance

Courtesy of the artist

Photo: François Stemmer