Vonvonli was born out of the fear experienced by choreographer Kossivi Sénagbé Afiadegnigban in 2014, when he had just broken his knee and feared he would never be able to dance or practise his art again. Its title, in Togo's Ewe language, means "fear exists" but also, depending on the vocal intonation, "the shadow". This double meaning suggests that fear is an inescapable feeling that pursues us everywhere, but can also be a driving force. 

Vonvonli explores the fears and anxieties of the human condition : fear of danger, of death. But also more abstract fears: of the unknown, of others, of not measuring up. Fear generated by the uncertainty of everyday life, where everything can change at a moment's notice, and the growing uncertainty of the future. The performance also questions the individual's capacity for change and adaptation. How do we face our fears? How do we tame them and transform them into energy? 

A tangle of hundreds of clothes from Hédzranawoé, Lomé's large second-hand market, the wide curtain draping the back of the stage illustrates the multitude of fears, scars and traumas accumulated over the course of a lifetime, which pile up, hide and disguise themselves. A place where fears are clung to and abandoned, this 'wall' also symbolises the initiation rituals and practices of Togolese culture, which force us to overcome these emotions in order to better tame them. A traditional song in the Ewe language, sung at funerals, in battle or to counter adversity, invokes the figure of the fearless ram who does not give up and charges resolutely at the obstacle. Performed live by the choreographer, it galvanises the dancers and gives them the strength and courage to face the shadow of their fears.

Vonvonli is the fruit of an initial research project carried out with participants in Traditional Dance and Creator of Today training programme (DTCA), led by Kossivi Sénagbé Afiadegnigban in July 2021 in Lomé. Winner of the Institut Français' Résidance programme, the project has benefited from a second period of research with the contribution of Nadia Beugré. Supported by the Institut Français du Togo in 2022, then in 2023 by the Institut Français and the Togo Créatif programme (Institut Français du Togo, Goethe Institut, European Union), with the contribution of Andréya Ouamba, the play was performed for the first time in its complete version on 20 January 2023, at the Institut Français du Togo in Lomé, and will be touring in Tunisia (Festival de danse de Carthage, June 2023), Ivory Coast (Festival de danse contemporaine d'Abidjan, September 2023) and Mozambique during the Kinani Festival - Biennale Danse en Afrique (November 2023).

Source : Document Vonvonli, Compagnie Sol'Oeil d'Afrik, 2023. Kossivi Sénagbé Afiadgnigban's interview, by Anne Décoret-Ahiha, Lomé, June 7th 2023.

Born into an animist family, Kossivi Sénagbé Afiadegnigban was introduced to percussion and dance as a child during vodoun ceremonies and rituals. At a very young age, he joined the Gbenodou traditional dance company. After passing his baccalauréat in 2009, he joined the sociology faculty at the University of Lomé, where, as a member of the Unesco club, he rubbed shoulders with the Togolese artistic scene, including performers and visual artists, while continuing his training in contemporary dance with Kossi Aholou-Wokawui, Patrick Acogny, Bienvenue Bazié, Lila Greene, Nora Chipomire, Serge Aimé Coulibaly and Salia Sanou. In 2014, a serious knee injury brought his career to an abrupt halt. It took him over a year and a half of traditional treatments and massages to regain his joint mobility. From this painful experience, he created his first piece with director Hodin Senyon: En Sursis, a dance/slam duet about disability. He then founded his own company, Sol'Oeil d'Afrik (2015), with which he runs cultural initiatives and artistic projects, particularly in the public space, which he is particularly fond of. In 2016, he obtained a certificate in Traditional and Contemporary African Dance and in the Art of Teaching Dance at the Ecole des Sables - Germaine Acogny (Senegal). In 2017, he created the solo Entre Ciel et Terre, inspired by the vodoun rituals that he explores as landmarks needed to build the identity of Togolese youth. "Vodoun feeds my work in terms of gestures, costumes and energy," he explains. "I draw the energy of my dance from Vodoun ceremonies. At the same time, it's a meeting with my ancestors". Presented at the Carthage Dance Festival in 2019, the piece was reworked the same year during a residency at the Centre Chorégraphique National de Roubaix (Ballet du Nord), France, with wich the choreographer became a regular companion. 

In 2018, Kossivi Sénagbé Afiadegnigban took part in the creation of Bintou Dembele, guest choreographer at the Fari Foni Waati#2 laboratory and festival in Bamako, Mali. Aware of the difficulty African dancers have in gaining access to choreographic training, he created the same year the first edition of DTCA (Traditional Dance and Creator of Today), a training programme lasting several weeks led by renowned choreographers and open to all dancers. In 2021,  he began a new creation, Vonvonli (L'Ombre de la peur) for five dancers (co-produced by the Institut Français, Togo Créatif (Institut Français du Togo, the Goethe Institut and the European Union), which was premiered in January 2022 at the Festival International de Danse de Ouagadougou (Fido) in Burkina Faso, before being revived in 2023 for an African tour (Togo, Tunisia, Côte d'Ivoire and Mozambique). In the same year, he  embarked on a new choreographic project combining dance and video: Agbedo ("life's work" in the Ewe language) explores the physical commitment of craftsmen in the exercise of their trade (premiering in July 2023 at the Institut Français du Togo). 

Sources: Document Compagnie Sol'Oeil d'Afrik, Interview with Kossivi Sénagbé Afiadegnigban by Anne Décoret-Ahiha, Lomé, June 12th 2019.

Komi Dario Laby is a young video artist from Togo. Since 2016, he has been filming shows and concerts. He also works as a cameraman on documentaries, television programmes and institutional films.

Founded in 2015, Sol'oeil d'Afrik is an artistic and cultural association born of the desire of young Togolese dance professionals to promote traditional and contemporary African dance. Its mission is to provide a framework for learning, meeting, exchanging and sharing for the professionalisation and fulfilment of African youth in relation to the rest of the world, in the fields of the arts, culture and education. Since its creation, Sol'oeil d'Afrik has been developing professional training projects, choreographic creations and cultural mediation projects.

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.