For the third edition of the “Dancing Now! programmed from January 31 to February 8, 2015 in Cotonou, Benin, Fondation Zinsou has commissioned Marcel Gbeffa for a choreographic piece on the double theme of photography and African music from the 1950s to the 1980s. 

Statement of intent : At the heart of this piece, the African music of the sixties and seventies which was listened to throughout French-speaking Africa. Music of a rage, emblematic of the hope of independence. Africa! Promising and revolutionary beginnings, eager to free yourself, what have you become? Already more than 50 years later. Have things progressed, stagnated or worsened? The joy of the first moments gives way to repetition; the infernal repetition of the same attitudes, the same grimaces, the same false smiles. From rebellion to eternal presidencies, from ethnic wars to crushed revolts. People of Africa ! what are you becoming? Do you stay on you? Where are you going ? What routine do you lock yourself into? Everything repeats itself, indefinitely. 

As a preamble to the piece, Marcel Gbeffa improvises a solo of a few minutes, from which this extract is taken. “There is a bit of Vandekeybus in Marcel Gbeffa, notes Patrick Acogny. A physical, wild, even exalted commitment in its dancers. Unlike the latter, he does not seek the exploration of limits, he is not in this energy at the limits of the possible. But we feel he is fascinated by the question of violence and its madness, as well as the limits to which they can lead, wich means death”, Le Journal “Dansons Maintenant! », n°2, 1° February 2015, p. 3. 

Performed on January 31, 2015, Théâtre de Verdure, Institut Français du Benin, Cotonou. 

Source: Multicorps Marcel Gbeffa Company

Born in 1982 in Cotonou, Marcel Gbeffa spent much of his childhood in Congo, where his father had settled. The war that began in 1998 precipitated his return to Benin. He began studying physics and chemistry at the University of Abomey-Calavi with the idea of continuing in aerial mechanics. In 2001, while trying to raise the funds to enroll his second year, he discovered contemporary dance during a performance by the group Ori Danse Club. The following year, he joined the Ori Danse Association for which he managed the administration and logistics. He also follows the workshops of dancers and choreographers travelling through Benin, such as Norbert Senou and Caroline Fabre, Francesca Pedullà... A scholarship allows him to join the 8th edition of professional training in traditional and contemporary dance in Africa at the Ecole des Sables, Senegal. In 2007, he created his first solo Et Si… which was selected for the “Danse l’Afrique danse” Biennale in Bamako in 2010 (8th Rencontres chorégraphiqued d'Afrique et de l'Océan indien). In 2008, he joined Andréya Ouamba's Premier Temps company as an assistant and performer (Sueur des Ombres, J'ai arrêté de croire au futur) and went on tour in the United States and throughout Africa. The same year, he created with Valérie Fadonougbo the Centre Chorégraphique Multicorps de Cotonou, to promote training and choreographic creation in Benin through internships, residencies and festivals.

He also multiplies international artistic collaborations: Reggie Wilson (United States), for Good Dance, Maria-Luisa Angulo (Brazil) for Solitudes Blues, Fatou Cissé (Senegal) for Illusion and also collaborates with visual artists: Violaine Lochu (France ) for Xoxo, and musicians: Clément Duthoit – collective Air artistes – la Boutique (France) for Chtulucène. In 2011, on the occasion of the Exhibition “Dansons maintenant !" organized by the Fondation Zinsou in Cotonou, he created the duet: Le Couloir sombre de l'amour, and a piece for 9 dancers: Sans regard. In 2013, he was in residence at the Pavillon Noir – Ballet Preljocaj in Aix-en-Provence for his solo Derrière le rideau. His creations also include duos: Vodoun (2012-2013), trio: Les Entrailles de l'Identite (2014, coprod. StepText)) and collective pieces: Noir mirage (2012, Prod. Fondation Zinsou), Root'in (2015 , Prod. Zinsou Foundation). In 2019, he began a creative project with the French visual artist Sarah Trouche around Guélédé masks (Benin – Nigeria) and the matter of gender. After a residency in Cotonou and France (Ateliers de Paris), the piece Dide was created in Paris in 2020 and has toured in 2021 in France and Africa. Settled between the United States, France and Benin, Marcel Gbeffa launched in 2019, the festival Connexion (2nd edition in 2021) in Benin to promote meetings and exchanges between artists from the continent and allow them to develop and to broaden their artistic skills.

In 2022, he obtained a Fulbright grant from the American government to develop his research around the transmission of dances in the diaspora (Purchase College, SUNY)

http://www.multicorps.org

Source : « Dansons Maintenant ! », Catalogue de l’Exposition (3 Avril – 30 Juin 2011), Fondation Zinsou, 2012.

Interview de Marcel Gbeffa par Aurélie Lecomte, 10 août 2012, Cotonou, retranscription : Maëva Poli, Document Fondation Zinsou

Interview Marcel Gbeffa, par Anne Décoret-Ahiha, 30 juillet 2015, Cotonou.

Fondation Zinsou has recorded all the performances given during the festival "Dansons Maintenant !" "that was organized in 2011, 2012 and 2015 in Cotonou, Benin. Interviews of dancers and choreographers invited for the festival were also realized.

These recordings and interviews have been uploaded on Numeridanse as a courtesy with the aim of making them reachable by many people as possible, taking into account their scientific nature and their contribution to the dissemination and promotion of contemporary African art, more particularly  the field of contemporary African dance.

Directed by Marie-Cécile Zinsou, the Zinsou Foundation opened its doors in June 2005 in Cotonou, Benin. A pioneer in West Africa, it works to promote contemporary art in Africa. Platform and exhibition center for contemporary African artists particularly Benin artists, in the Ouidah Museum and in the Lab, at Cotonou, the Foundation also acts for the promotion of education and social development through cultural and educational activities aimed in particular at young audiences,  with the major challenge of free accessibility . In 2011, the Zinsou Foundation exhibited Antoine Tempé's dance photographs and invited choreographers to create a work in situ, in resonance with the images of exposed bodies. The  success of this event entitled “Dansons Maintenant !", (Let's Dance Now!) convinces the Foundation to organize a second edition, in 2012, dedicated solely to dance, around the theme of urbanity. In 2015, a third edition took place, in conjunction with the “African Records” exhibition devoted to African music and photography from the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s, which provided the motive for new co-productions of performances. The three editions of "Dansons Maintenant ! " 2011, 2012 and 2015 have all been recorded on video  (shows, restitutions of workshops, interview) and make an archive collection of 120 videos. 

The extracts from the Archive collection of "Dansons Maintenant !" have been made available free of charge by the Zinsou Foundation.

  The deposit of the video archives of "Dansons maintenant !", belonging to Fondation Zinsou was made possible thanks to the Centre National de la Danse Research award in dance, granted in 2021 to Dr Anne Décoret-Ahiha for her research project "Consolidation of the African choreographic field: focus on Benin" and with the kind permission of the artists.