Alioune Diagne
Siki
In "Siki" choreographer and dancer Alioune Diagne brings to life the forgotten Senegalese boxing hero Battling Siki, the first African boxing world champion in 1922. On his way through Europe and the United States he not only fought in the ring, but also against the prevailing racism of the time. At the age of 28 he was gunned down in New York. Made up of dance and boxing, "Siki" is a dialogue between then and now, seeing and being seen, Battling Siki and Alioune Diagne – two people from Saint-Louis, more or less the same age, a century apart.
Fatoumata Bagayoko
Fatou t’as tout fait
In her solo Fatoumata Bagayoko from Mali deals with the topic of female circumcision – a practice that she personally fell victim to along with countless other girls and women, and not only in her home country. In the darkness of the stage she recaps the individual scenes of this cruel tradition: "I wanted to claim this pain. To show my society, my family, my country, my complete incomprehension and my deep disagreement with this practice, which has no place in contemporary society."