Germaine Acogny is an African contemporary dance icon, and winner of the Dance Biennale Golden Lion. In her moving solo “Somewhere at the Beginning,” she takes tentative steps into the past, towards the origins and ancestors that accompany her like shadows and witnesses. Germaine Acogny’s body tells stories of departure and return, of leaving the African continent, of life in European exile, and of homecoming. The performance unfolds as a search for identity – never complete, always in a state of becoming.

Mansour Ciss Kanakassy is a Berlin-based artist who, in 2001, founded the Laboratoire de Déberlinisation in reference to the Berlin Congo Conference of 1884-85, an art laboratory addressing topics such as decolonization, migration, and cultural identity. His work reflects both the power structures shaped by colonialism and precolonial knowledge and its symbolism. 

The work of the Senegalese-French dancer, choreographer, and teacher Patrick Acogny moves at the intersection of contemporary African dance, body work, and contemporary choreography. His powerful and vibrant training is open to all levels, as he himself says: “In many African cultures, you don’t start by knowing how to dance. You start by being there, listening, and entering the circle.”
 

The series UNEXPECTED LESSONS — Knowledges of Body and Sound is funded by the LOTTO Foundation Berlin. In cooperation with the Betty Center for Movement Research in Dance Studies at LMU Munich.