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Zab
Maboungou, choreographer and performer.
Zab
Maboungou founded Zab Maboungou/Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata
in 1986 for the creation, presentation and promotion of her work
in a local, national and international context. This prolific artist
is active on many fronts: as choreographer, performer, musician,
author, and teacher of philosophy and dance, she has been working
for the development and promotion of African dance in Quebec, across
Canada and abroad. In 1995, Zab Maboungou presented the première
of her solo REVERDANSE at New York's Lincoln Center. In 1996, the
same piece was a resounding success at the Pan-African music festival
(FESPAM) in Brazzaville, in the Congo. Her solo work INCANTATION
was presented in a number of Canadian cities by the CANDANCE network,
including Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Halifax in 1997. The
same piece had its American première at the John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C in February 1998,
and its Asian première at the Pusan ans Taegu International
Dance Festival in South Korea in April 1998. It was also programmed
during the Festival International de nouvelle danse à Montréal
and at Cameroon's Rencontres théâtrales internationales
in 1999, as well as during the Italian festival « Nuovo Danza
» in November 2000. In May 2001, the piece travelled to Germany.
Mozongi, a work for 4 dancers and 2 musicians, toured from 1997
to 2001, when it was presented at Montreal's Place des Arts (January
2001).
Zab
Maboungou has been teaching the technique "Rhythms and movement"
in Montreal for 20 years. She has developed a unique style and teaching
method called "the rhythmic of breathing" that she describes
in her book HEYA: an historic, poetic and didactic treatise of African
dance. She has also taught Western philosophy at Laval's Collège
Montmorency since 1982. Her reputation as artist, thinker and activist
is well established, and she is often invited to hold workshops
in universities and cultural centres (Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver,
Washington D.C., South Korea, The Congo, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire
and England).
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