Africa, the continent of music and dance. What is your link to it?
“I was born in Port-Gentil in Gabon. My father is French and my mother Gabonese. She’s from the Myene people. These were the most important days of my life, when I discovered my passion of today. My instincts are there. I do strongly remember the culture from my childhood.»

Did you already dance when you where a child?
«I grew up with music all around me, music from both cultures. My African culture with its traditional music and folklore, and my father's French culture filled with classical music. When I was a child, I loved to copy the dances I saw around me. Ceremonies, rituals, group dances. Dancing and singing were part of my life. Today, it’s a means of expression for me.»

But then you left Africa…
“I was 7 years old when my parents decided to move to France. That was during the economic crisis in Gabon. My life changed completely. In France, I had to adapt to a different life. I missed Africa.”

Why modern dance and why the Netherlands?
«My classical education in France involved an enormous amount of discipline. I was really in control, and therefore in conflict with my instincts. At a certain moment, I forgot about the freedom of dancing, about dancing in an instinctive way, about living in a moment. I rediscovered that at the Nederlands Dans Theater.”

«At first, I didn’t know how it would be at this company. I admired the quality of the dancers. The first pieces I watched of NDT was on dvd. It touched me in a great way. I found all the sensations again that made me dance in the first place.”

Thinking about the Netherlands, what’s the biggest cliché you can think of?
(Laughs out loud) «Now I imagine cheese. And tulips, I love riding around on a bike and I am also fascinated by the architectural dimensions. Here, it feels like a village instead of a city. I love this feeling.”

What is it about Africa that makes you smile the most?
«The fact that people never lose hope. Africans are people with inner strength, it’s almost unbelievable, with a particular rich life. Laughing is a big part of life. That’s what I love most about Africa.»

Being a rolemodel yourself, who is your rolemodel?
«I have trouble to be fan of one person. Mostly, I draw my inspiration from many things and people. From my colleaugues, friends, familly, even somebody in the street, books, art, nature... Inspiration is on a daily baisis for me, with my surrounding. »

MORE AFRICAN ROLEMODELS

Karyn Benquet and Jorge Nozal dance  Jirí Kylián's "Whereabouts Unknown".