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Portrait of choreographer and director, Irène Tassembédo
Design Indaba
Cape Town, South Africa
Burkinabé choreographer and director, Irène Tassembédo, was selected by Design Indaba to take part in our collaborative initiative with Google Arts & Culture, titled Colours of Africa. Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Stories are told in pigments, tones and hues; a kaleidoscope as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent. For the initiative, we asked 60 African creatives to capture the unique spirit of their country in a colour which represents home to them. The projects they have created are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts and illustrations. Each artist has also attempted to articulate what being African means to their identity and view of the world.
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Details
- Title: Portrait of choreographer and director, Irène Tassembédo
- What it Means to be African: To be African is to be part of the world.
- Subject: Irène Tassembédo
- Rationale: Tassembedo has chosen the colour red ; red being the colour of rage, of despair, of anger. This photo of women has been chosen as it depicts the African woman at the forefront of every event and at the forefront of our history. Generally in Africa, especially in Burkina, red is the colour of scorched earth, the colour of spilled blood, of the son and of hope. So the colour red comes to the fore as a colour full of conviction and potential ; that with this red force at the core of us, we can change things.
- Project: Colors of Africa
- Location: Burkina Faso
- Hex Code: 7C2E35
- Colour Choice: La terre brûlée (Scorched Earth)
- Biography: Burkinabé choreographer and director, Irène Tassembédo, has developed a unique style based on a blend of African dance and contemporary choreography. Having trained at the Maurice Béjart Mudra Afrique Contemporary Dance School, Tassembédo founded the Ébène Company in Paris in the early 80s. Her choreographic works were performed all over the world in the 90s through the millenium, garnering international acclaim for her as a contemporary African choreographer. Upon winning the SACD prize for choreography in 2000, Tassembédo moved back to Burkina Faso in order to pursue choreography via cultural initiatives, such as the Irène Tassembédo Dance School (EDIT) founded in 2009 in Ouagadougou. Her mission was to train up a new generation of African dancers and choreographers. Birthed out of a desire to promote the choreographic heritage of the continent, Tassembédo launched the Ouagadougou International Dance Festival (FIDO) in 2013, providing a networking platform and creative space for young African artists. The festival would soon become a must-attend event for aspiring dancers and choreographers on the African continent. In 2016, Tassembédo co-ordinated the «Dance Africa Dance in Ouaga ! » an initiative of the French Institute, alongside Burkinabé choreographer, Salia Sanou. In 2018, Tassembédo launched a cultural development platform called « The Ouagadougou Performing Arts Grin » aimed at bringing the performing arts, particularly dance, to the public’s attention. Tassembédo advocates for participation and exposure to the performing arts as a crucial instrument of resilience in societies where more and more people suffer hardship (poverty, illiteracy, loss of traditions, desocialisation, illness, etc). These struggles, together with socio- economic inequality and ongoing gender inequality, have fueled the stigmatisation and discrimination of the weak, the prevalence of social conflict, and the enslavement of women. Given the complex environment that is West Africa and the Sahel, the performing arts function as a tool for building or rebuilding self, for social cohesion, tolerance and the prevention of conflict in communities. Tassembédo’s motto « Turning culture into a weapon of mass construction » reflects her activist stance in fomenting the performing arts on the African continent. As a social entrepreneur and powerhouse ambassador for the arts, Tassembédo continues to campaign for culture to drive growth in Africa as a priority for sustainable, global and gender-sensitive development. Tassembédo endeavours to mobilise governments, the private sector and development partners in wealth creation, employment and intangible added value, in order to build a society better able to think about its future and to make better choices.
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