Afrique en Cirque conveys strength, agility, and joys of young Africans

With powerful drumming and music, heart-stopping acrobatics, and colorful dance, Cirque Kalabanté’s Afrique en Cirque ushers in the beauty and energetic artistry of African Culture at Wheeler Opera House on Feb. 11.

Inspired by daily life in Guinea, the performance conveys the strength, agility, and exuberance of young Africans. Gravity-defying moves and perfectly balanced stunts, from the Cyr wheel to formations based upon a human pyramid, make it an unforgettable evening.

“Guinea has a strong cultural diversity, and the show itself is inspired by daily life (there),” said Yamoussa Bangoura, a multidisciplinary artist from Guinea and creator of Cirque Kalabanté and Afrique en Cirque. “After seeing Kalabanté’s show, the audience will discover the beauty and harmony of West Africa.”

Bangoura’s dream always had involved starting a school of circus arts and directing his own multidisciplinary company specializing in the African arts. He became interested in circus arts growing up in Conakry Guinea in the 1990s, studying circus performers he watched on European television and practicing stunts on the beach and dirt around his home. In addition, he studied the Nyamakala tradition of circus from the Fula people of West Africa. Eventually, he joined Guinea’s original circus company, Circus Baobob, and toured throughout Africa and Europe.

By the 2000s, Cirque Eloize, a group based in Montreal, Canada, recruited him. In Canada, he also performed with Cirque du Soleil and Cavalia, the latter of which is a cirque act that includes horses. In 2007, he launched Cirque Kalabanté in Montreal, which featured many of his family members, including his twin sisters, brothers and cousins. Eleven years later, he started his own school in Montreal, offering classes in not only cirque, but also African dance and drumming.

Afrique en Cirque showcases live musicians playing traditional African instruments, including the kora, a 21-string instrument played by plucking with the fingers; dundun, a rope-tuned, cylindrical drum with a rawhide skin on both ends, played with sticks; djembe, a rope-tuned, skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands; and krin, a log drum that produces sounds by vibration throughout its body.

“Our instruments — the dundun, djembe, kora, and krin — will go through their heart, body, and soul,” Bangoura said. “Everyone needs to see this show to be reborn again.”