Tsunami 2.0 was inspired by testimonies gathered during a trip by choreographer Nourou-Deen Eniola to northern Benin, which spoke of rivalries and territorial conflicts between local populations, as well as the invasion and attacks by jihadists that have been raging in the region for several years. 

Land conflicts, invasion, the conquest of power and space: these are the themes the choreographer decided to tackle. He also wanted to denounce the religious extremism spreading in the sub-region and destabilizing the country. The rapidity with which this phenomenon has occurred suggests the title Tsunami 2.0: a sudden, brutal, highly topical surge that compromises the future. 

Nourou-Deen Eniola chooses to enrich her contemporary writing with techniques such as Parkour and acrobatics to produce a leaping, lively, nervous movement, as if it were a question of always being on one's guard, at the risk of losing or being dispossessed of the essential. A massive accessory that takes the place of a fifth character, the table symbolizes coveted power, space to be conquered, the object of incessant struggle and confrontation. Dressed in white burnous, reminiscent of the spahi costume, the four characters alternate assaults and respites. During the truce, the body, shaken by spasms, expresses anguish, fear, solitude and poignant powerlessness.

Premiere: April 28, 2023, Institut Français de Cotonou (Benin). 

Recorded on December 7, 2023, at Espace Fiôhomé in Lomé (Togo) during the Instant Togo Festival.

Source: Dossier du spectacle, Interview with Nourou-Deen Eniola by Anne Décoret-Ahiha, December 8, 2023, Lomé (Togo).

Born in Okéita, not far from the Nigerian border, Nourou Deen Eniola began dancing as a self-taught artist before joining, in 2007, the Ensemble Artistique et Culturel des Etudiants d'Abomey Calavi, a melting pot of Beninese theatre and contemporary dance. He participated in three editions of the Scientific and Cultural Festival of West African Universities (FESCUAO). Steeped in hip hop and traditional dances, he continues to train with Beninese Marcel Gbeffa, Richard Adossou, Rachelle Agbossou and Vincent Harisdo as well as with Andréya Ouamba, Lila Greene, Chantal Loïal and Delphine Bachacou. 

Joining Marcel Gbeffa's Multicorps company, he took part in  Root'in (2015) and Les Cris du couvent, performed in 2017 at the cultural competition of the VIII° Jeux de la francophonie, in Abidjan.

At the same time, he founded the group Pro7 with Ezequiel Adandé, with whom he created  Entre deux M.E.C (2019). Together, they opened the Urban Dance Center (UDC) in the Haïe Vive district of Cotonou where Nourou Deen Eniola teaches urban and Afro dance. 

In 2020, he performed in Gbe Miton ("our voices" in Fon language), by the Beninese choreographer Carmelita Siwa (Compagnie Arts ca'danser - Bronze medal in the cultural section of the Jeux de la Francophonie - Kinshasa 2023)). The following year, he launched into the creation of a solo: Iran'ti. In April 2022, he took part in the re-creation at the French Institute in Cotonou of Un cercle égal un demi cercle by Chantal Loïal.

Created in 2023, his piece Tsunami 2.0 (Institut Français co-production) for 4 performers tours Benin and Togo. Winner of the 2023 Institut Français & Cité internationale des arts residency program, he will be taking up n 2024 a creative residency for a new project combining dance and slam.

A 2009 graduate of the Institut Supérieur de l'Image et du Son in Ouagadougou, Lelly Kossa Anité-Ghouhi began her career as a scriptwriter on TV series and feature films in Burkina Faso and Togo. Director, she won the Grand Prix de la Semaine Nationale du Cinéma Togolais in 2022 with her short film Parfois le destin. Delegate of the Blitta Documentary Film Festival, Togo, from 2017 to 2022, and representative of the Espoir-Fife Film Festival on the Togo edition, she is currently production manager of the European program Togo Créatif, at the Institut Français de Lomé. She filmed the shows programmed for the Instant Togo Festival, which took place in Lomé, Tsévié and Agbodrafo in December 2023.

This video was registered thanks to the support of the Institut Français, the Metropole de Lyon and the City of Lyon as part of the 2023 - 2024 project "Development of a digital resource on African choreographic creation and a tool for artistic training, art criticism and cultural mediation in Benin and Togo" led by Dr Anne Décoret-Ahiha.