Legacy – Holland Festival

Choreographer Nadia Beugré’s inspiration for Legacy was the myth of the woman warriors called the Amazons and a specific moment in the history of her country, Ivory Coast. In 1949, women in the city of Grand-Bassam protested in a long march for the release of political prisoners, and to stand against French colonialists. Legacy is a homage not only to those women, but to all the women around the world who are fighting to be heard. Nadia Beugré and Hanna Hedman share the stage with a group of Amsterdam women. To stirring live music by the Ivorian musician Manou Gallo they move across the stage. With their bodies, voices and even their bras, they take over the space.

The group that performs Legacy is already in action when the audience arrives to take their seats, which are arranged in a circle around the stage. They are running, but they don’t seem to be

getting anywhere. Two of them — Hanna Hedman and Nadia Beugré, the choreographer — are professionals. The other women, for all are women, are local amateur dancers or semi-professionals. They move in silence, or to the accompaniment of music comprised of percussive patter, bass guitar throbs and powerful vocalizing by Manou Gallo. The performers are of all ages, shapes and origins. Their expressions reveal their effort. They grow tired, sweat, remove items of clothing — but they do not stop. They are, it is clear, fired by the same spirit.

Legacy, by Nadia Beugré, presents the story of women on the move. It is an ode to women all over the world who have fought and continue to fight for freedom, justice and respect. Women who yield their own interests to a common cause, an ideology, an entire people. What’s important here isn’t a particular historical event; it’s about the ongoing struggle, and the endurance and risks it demands. Beugré wants us to remember the extraordinary women whose voices were silenced, whose battles and victories were suppressed, but who finally, despite all opposition, made themselves heard.

In addressing this universal theme, Beugré delves into the history closest to home: legends from her motherland, Ivory Coast. One such legend is the eighteenth-century tale of Queen Pokou, who led her people safely into exile. With pursuers on their heels and the raging river that separates Ghana from Ivory Coast blocking their path, the queen willingly sacrifices her most precious possession, her son. The act placates the river, which yields to reveal a path for safe passage. Once everyone is across, Pokou turns and cries out 'ba ouli' ('the child is dead'), and thus the Baoulé tribe was born.

Beugré’s choreography draws especially on a historic march that took place in 1949. With the country under the constraints of colonial rule, a swelling group of women undertook a heroic trek from Abidjan to Grand Bassam to demand the release of their husbands, whom the authorities were holding as political prisoners. Their peaceful demonstration was met with brute force. A notable aspect of the march was the women’s use of an old ritual, 'adjanou', as a form of protest. It involves women singing, dancing and exposing their normally taboo-enshrouded bodies — unadorned or smeared in white clay — to onlookers for the purpose of shaming their adversary.

Elements of this ritual are clearly discernible in Legacy, which marks Beugré’s first appearance at the Holland Festival, but the choreographer does not rely on it as an aesthetic concept. Instead, she allows the dancers’ movements to arise from emotion and primal urge.

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choreography Nadia Beugré performance Hanna Hedman, Nadia Beugré music, performance Manou Gallo dramaturgy, coaching participants Boris Hennion participants Rosane de Abreu, França Kemi Alake, Dorothy Blokland, Deborah Cameron, Cecilia Dirks-Caton, Lynn Fokkens, Magnolia Hechavarria, Yolanda Jansen, Agnes Matthews, Naomie Pieter, Nancy Rustenburg, Samira Saidi, Maia Elisabeth Sørensen lighting design, scenography Erik Houllier technical management, light Anthony Merlaud executive producer Latitudes Prod. – Lille production management Maria-Carmela Mini production employee Boris Hennion coproduction National Choreographic Center in Roubaix (FR), National Choreographic Center in Montpellier (FR), FUSED – French–US Exchange in Dance, Festival d’Automne à Paris, La Bâtie – Festival de Genève, Théâtre Garonne (FR), Théâtre de Nîmes, Le Parvis Scène Nationale Tarbes-Pyrénées (FR), PÔLE SUD with the support of ÉTAPE DANSE with special thanks deelnemers aan Legacy thanks to Tarmac – La scène internationale francophone (Paris) world premier Genève, La Bâtie, Festival de Genève, 30 August 2015

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