Bryttni Pugh

Faulkner

DANC 2125-090

18 October 2017

Les Ballets Africains

Memoire du Mandeng by Les Ballets Africains is a communal dance work that

incorporated a group of wild animals, a group of birds, groups of men, groups of women, leaders,

an elder, a villain, and a boy. The groups often interacted with the elder, the villain, the boy, and

with one another in their group. Performers would look at each other in linear or circular

formations and would look at the audience if they were facing front. The female elder and a male

leader touched the boy on the shoulders and sang to him. The group of women with baskets would

interact with the elder and place their baskets around her. The hunters shot their arrows at the

villain. Lastly, the boy watched the groups perform from a low level and interacted with the spear

placed in front of him to help him stand on the legs and feet he could not mobilize.

The costumes varied between groups but consisted of neutral colors such as black, brown,

and white. The animals were denoted by large, realistic masks of a lion, bull, or cheetah, small slit

skirts, scraps of a shirt of their corresponding animal print, anklets, and white claws. The group of

birds had large, detailed bird masks with hats, embellished beaks, dark blue tops and skirts, white

paint randomly spread across the revealing skin, and black feathers that hung down from their

shoulders to their wrists. The leader of the birds had thick white dreads, a crown hidden within her

hair, patterned shirt and skirt, and white lipstick that went beyond the shape of her lips. With a

spear as a cane, she walked with a forward tilt, high knees, and widely separated feet. There were

a few groups of men including a group of warriors with shields, hunters with bows and arrows,
musicians who sang and played instruments like the kora, and villagers who danced with the bags

hung from their belts. There were also a few groups of women including a group of workers with

baskets and revealing outfits with circular embellishments, warriors with white paint and white

and blue dreads, and villagers with tie-dye scarves either wrapped around their upper bodies or in

their hands as they dance. The elder had a prominent hunchback, the villain had a long beard and

wizard-like cloak, and the boy had a loose-fitting outfit with a sizable circular necklace.

There were numerous and various instruments being played on and off stage. On stage

performers played the kora, the flute, and a four-pronged instrument. Off stage musicians played

a variety of drums, metal scraping together, the balafon or a xylophone-like instrument, and an

instrument that sounded like a banjo.

The performance by Les Ballets Africains differs greatly from a traditional ballet. Unlike

the typical ballet from the West with pointe shoes, turn out, classical music, and tutus, Memoire

du Mandeng is a ballet composed of the opposing elements. Les Ballet Africains incorporated bare

feet, flexed feet, parallel, grounded movements, somersaults, high jumps over another performer,

cartwheels, non-orchestral instruments, bent torsos, a loose head and neck, and African or African-

inspired clothing. As for movement, ballet traditionally values sustainability whereas Les Ballets

Africains valued high energy and fast, grounded feet. Additionally, there is usually a corps in ballet

that dances in the background (i.e. upstage or to the far left and right sides of the stage) as the

soloists or main characters dance in front or beside them. However, in Les Ballets Africains, the

corps or groups do not remain in the background. There are main characters, but the other groups

are of the same importance. They danced around or in front of the main characters, towards the

audience, towards each other at center stage, and across the floor. There is a sense of community

and connectedness that traditional ballets do not often incorporate with its leads and corps.