The Faso Danse Théâtre company with Serge Aimé Coulibaly and Sigue Sayouba (Burkina Faso), Qudus Onikeku (Nigeria) and Nelisiwe Xaba (South Africa): three artistic proposals, three stories through which the contours of contemporary African dance in the 2010s take shape. From rehearsal studios to international festivals, the documentary offers a glimpse into the choreographic universe of these dancers and choreographers, shedding light on their approach, which at the time received little media coverage, and their commitment to dance as a social and political act. 

Shot in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon and Germany between 2014 and 2017, the film focuses on artists whose work and multiple aesthetics Cécile Thery admires. Initially, she had chosen to portray five artists or companies from five different countriesof Africa. The filming that took place in 2014 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, as part of the Abok N'Goma festival, with the dancer Michèle N'Djongui, was not included in the final cut for script reasons. The planned performance in Congo, in the cultural space created by Delavallet Bidiefono on a former mass grave, to mark the creation by the choreographer of his piece Monstres, was cancelled because the political context was too unstable.  As for Nelisiwe Xaba, Cécile Thery followed her from Berlin to Fribourg, as she was unable to film her in South Africa, where she rarely performs. 

Production Temps Kono & GnamaGnama Productions. YB Diffusion.

Dance for Change was broadcast on TV5 Monde.

Source : Cécile Thery

Cécile Thery is a French dancer, choreographer, teacher, art therapist and film-maker. 

With a Master's degree in clinical psychology, a post-graduate diploma in mediated psychiatry, art and creativity and a Master's degree in dance anthropology, she has built her career as an artist between the sensitive and the social.

In 2000, she went to Burkina Faso to take an intensive course in traditional dance with Irène Tassembedo and dancers from the National Ballet. She discovered the ‘Dialogue de corps’ festival, organised by the Compagnie Salia ni Seydou, which introduced a whole generation of young dancers to contemporary dance. On her return to France, she joined the Ivory Coast Traditionnal Dances group N'Zassa, directed by Clément Assemian and Tobi Voli. She continued her training in France and Africa with Germaine Acogny, Vincent Mantsoe, Seydou Boro, Nora Chipaumire and Franck Michelletti. As a performer, she has worked with the Lyon-based companies Chenêt-Danse, XLR Project, Teguerer, and with the Saint-Etienne-based company Litecox, she has created performances in the public space. In 2021, she was assistant choreographer to Sayouba Sigué, for Afriquarqs, during the Lyons Dance Festival Parade. Travelling regularly throughout Africa, she has taken part in numerous international contemporary dance festivals, sharing the living and working conditions of dancers and meeting emerging figures in African contemporary dance, which she portrayed in her documentary Dance for Change, released in 2018 (Production Temps Kono - GnamaGnama Production). For the 2023 Cultural Olympiad and the 2024 Paralympic Games, she is collaborating on the creation of ‘CINQ!’, in partnership with the Litecox company from Saint-Étienne, with the support of Saint-Étienne Métropole.

Moving towards greater body awareness, Cécile Thery incorporates other body practices into her approach and trains in Pilates and yoga. With Cie TK, she is developing her choreographic work and asserting her multi-disciplinarity by combining body and text and building tailor-made projects inspired by different places and audiences.  Her artistic approach is based on the experience of mixing and hybridity, with music as an essential component. As a choreographer, she leads amateur projects such as Mai 68 and Entrez dans la danse, in which she questions the place of women in the public space. Her research about the status of women has led her to stage and perform texts from Ferite a morte by Italian playwright Serena Dandini, a general reflection on domestic violence.

In 2023, she continued her research into text and the body by creating Marie, le reste c'est de la poésie: the story of an intimate, poetic and political reconstruction, for a dancer, actress and musician.

She works with so-called ‘excluded’ audiences (women who are victims of domestic violence, people with disabilities, new arrivals) and is involved in professional art therapy training for health care schools (speech therapy, nursing) and the  Youth Judicial Protection).

In 2024, accompanied by actor and co-director Noël Faure, she created Pas à pas, a short dance dance with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, as part of the DEAT42 programme set up by the Ove Foundation in Saint-Étienne. 

Supported by the Association Temps Kono, founded in 2005 and since directed by Cécile Thery, dancer, choreographer, teacher and director, Compagnie TK is based in Saint-Etienne (France). 

It produces shows, documentaries and short films, and is involved in artistic and cultural education initiatives for amateur audiences, schools and people with disabilities or in vulnerable situations. 

The TK company is supported by the Loire Department.

Source: Association TK

With the aim of highlighting and documenting choreographic creation in Africa, Jaï Production welcomes video documents submitted by artists, directors and companies to its ‘Guests’ Collection (Invités)

Cécile Thery's documentary, which has continued to be shown since its release, has a special place here.