The Franco-Senegalese Amala Dianor digs into his hybrid and luminous dance with Emaphakathini. He captures the stories of the Via Katlehong's dancers and that of their country to push back the boundaries and create new spaces mixing traditional dances, gumboots and pantsula.

Source: Maison de la Danse de Lyon

A hip hop dancer, Amala Dianor trained at the CNDC in 2000. Working as a performer in many diverse productions (from hip hop to neo-classical, contemporary and afro-contemporary dance), he quickly acquired undeniable recognition in the dancing community.

During these years, Amala perfected his writing: he masterfully went from one technique to another, but truly thrived through building bridges through these worlds. With the company C dans C, he choreographed (or co-choreographed) and performed in his first shows.

In 2012 he created “Crossroads” (winner of the Second and Third Awards at the Concours Renaissance), as well as his own company, the Amala Dianor Company, with which he developed his work as a choreographer.

The following year, he created “Parallèle”, a feminine dancing quartet at the Centre National de la Danse. In 2014, he choreographed the Extension duo alongside Bboy Junior, a surprising encounter between two esteemed performers of the French hip hop scene. That same year, he created and performed in his first solo show, Man Rec, which premiered in the Avignon festival.

In 2015, the company launched a regional project called “A Wink of Time” putting in the spotlight 18 amateur dancers on their way to becoming professionals. This project led to the creation of “Overflow”, co-signed with Mickael Le Mer, Pierre Bolo and Annabelle Loiseau. Amala also became the artist in residence at the Théâtre Louis Aragon in Tremblay-en-France, on a two-year contract.

In 2016 he created “Di(s)generation”, bringing together several generations of hip hop dancers, and showcased “New School”, a trio from “Di(s)generation” inspired by Abstract dance.

The 2016-2017 season marks Amala Dianor’s first of three years as an Associate Artist for the CDC Pôle Sud in Strasbourg, as well as for the 104 in Paris, and the Scènes de Pays dans les Mauges (Maine et Loire), France.

Source : The Amala Dianor Company 's website

More information : amaladianor.com

Born in 1977, Fabien Plasson is a video director specialized in the field of performing arts (dance , music, etc).

During his studies at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (joined in 1995) Fabien discovered video art. He was trained by various video artists (Joel Bartoloméo Pascal Nottoli , Eric Duyckaerts , etc).
He first experimented with the creation of installations and cinematic objects.

From 2001 to 2011, he was in charge of Ginger & Fred video Bar’s programming at La Maison de la Danse in Lyon. He discovered the choreographic field and the importance of this medium in the dissemination, mediation and pedagogical approach to dance alongside Charles Picq, who was a brilliant video director and the director of the video department at that time.

Today, Fabien Plasson is the video director at La Maison de la Danse and in charge of the video section of Numeridanse.tv, an online international  video library, and continues his creative activities, making videos of concerts, performances and also creating video sets for live performances.

Sources: Maison de la Danse ; Fabien Plasson website

More information: fabione.fr

Created in 1992, the Via Katlehong Dance company, led by Vusi Mdoyi, Steven Faleni and Buru Mohlabane, borrows its name of the township of Katlehong in East Rand, a deprived district which produced the pantsula counter-culture, born in the townships in the 1960s and 1970s, under the apartheid regime in South Africa. 

Like hip hop in the United States and Europe, pantsula culture is an entire lifestyle, covering fashion, music, dance, gestural and spoken codes. And like hip hop, this culture finds its place of expression in the street. 

In the 1990s, as a multiracial South Africa slowly emerged, the company continued to fight for the young people of the poor districts. The company's shows and performances mix several dances: pantsula (non-acrobatic but virtuosic kind of hip hop), tap dance (percussive taps with metal-tipped shoes), stepping (similar to the American time step) and the gumboot dance (miners' dance, done in Wellingtons, or gumboots). 

In combining these traditions, the South African company produces an energetic, festive and cheeky dance.

Sustained by a strong communal identity, Via Katlehong Dance pursues its educational, cultural and social mission to help the young people of South Africa. The company has won several international prizes (FNB Vita Dance Umbrella, Gauteng Dance Showcase, KTV Most Brilliant Achievement, Gauteng MEC Development Award, etc.) for its creations, with its new mix of pantsula and other community dances of South Africa, like the gumboot dance and stepping. 

More information

https://www.charleroi-danse.be/profile/via-katlehong/

Bibliography 

Vernay, Marie-Christine. “Danser contre la violence, les malfaiteurs et la drogue”, Libération, 21 March 2011

Vernay, Marie-Christine. “Via Katlehong fait son tapage à Paris”, Libération, 21 March, 2011 

Last updated: December 2013