Spotlight Series: Award Winning Congolese dancer and choreographer Faustin Linyekula
Faustin Linyekula is an Award Winning Congolese dancer and choreographer of contemporary dance. Dubbed by Frieze magazine as “quite possibly the most important artist working on the African continent today”, he is also the founder of Kisangani-based collaborative arts platform Studios Kabako which he launched when he returned to Congo in 2001 after being abroad for eight years.
He studied literature and drama in Kisangani then moved to Nairobi in 1993 and in 1997 set up with Opiyo Okach and Afrah Tenambergen, the Gàara company, Kenya’s first contemporary dance company.
Mr. Linyekula grew up DRC’s third largest city, Kisangani and was introduced to dance-theater by a choreographer from the Ivory Coast. In his works, Faustin addresses the legacy of decades of war, terror, fear and the collapse of the economy for himself, his family and his friends. To date Faustin has created 15 pieces with the Studios Kabako that have toured worldwide in Europe, Africa and North-America.
https://crossingthelinefestival.org/2017/events/festival-of-dreams/
Photo credit: Agathe Poupeney