Creation 1998

Choreographed by Fred Bendongué

In the 1990s, Fred Bendongué explored the world of the black diaspora, this footprint of a painful past, and first stopped at the point where Africa shone forth. This was to lead to an encounter with the literature of this black world. He studied different authors such as Frantz Fanon, Patrick Chamoiseau, Aimé Césaire... And, from these readings he went on to create three pieces of work: “À la vue d'un seul œil” (a tale of the resistance of Maroons), “Les damnés de la terre” (inspired by the writer Frantz Fanon and the “Tragédie du Roi Christophe” by Aimé Césaire). In this last opus he pays tribute to Angela Davis and to the combat of the Black Panthers.

Source : Maison de la Danse – Programme

Credits

Chorégraphie Fred Bendongué
Réalisation Charles Picq

Fred Bendongué, choreographer and performer since 1987, acknowledged and acclaimed in 1994 during the Biennale de la danse in Lyon, and recognized by the profession on the other side of the Atlantic in 1996 with his “Mama Africa”, which received the Bessie Award, has forged a unique personality through dance.

He is part of this generation of dancers who live for challenges, and he has constantly taken on challenges in creativity, in exchanging and in encounters. From the street to the stage, Fred Bendongué gained his experience through hip-hop, which he rapidly exalted and which led him to be invited as soloist for the ballet Roland Petit. He trained in classical dance with the greatest teachers, fashioned a signature, an indelible signature that has made his movement successful, full and charged with emotion. He continued his route and studied capoeira and Congolese rumba.

All urban forms of dance appeal to him, as he comprehends the essence and knows how to reinterpret their beauty. For Fred Bendongué, dance is a means of integration and emancipation.

Source : Cie Fred Bendongué 's website

More information : ciefredbendongue.fr