Rhythm nation

ALIVE WITH PLEASURE Les Ballets Africains drum up the good times.

It sounds a little like a season from The Real World: Thirty individuals from diverse parts of a country audition for the opportunity to tour together in cramped quarters for several months, while global audiences look on. But the reason that members of Les Ballets Africains, the national ensemble of the Republic of Guinea, compete for roles in the company is not for instant fame, but to serve as ambassadors for the diverse traditions and aspirations of their small West African country. 

We caught up with production manager Tim Speechley by phone as the company’s tour bus sped through Upstate New York, heading toward the next stop on its tour of 21 cities in 32 days. The final stop of this leg of the tour is Chicago, where the company performs “Mandinka Memories” Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7.

The company’s artists represent “four distinct regions in Guinea,” Speechley explains. “Each region has its own language, music and dance traditions. The company holds American Idol–style auditions around the country. We take the best dancers and musicians from each region.”

The company’s tours, which can last up to two years, are physically demanding. In contrast to other African dance traditions, Speechley describes Guinean dance as “very fast, with a constant, high level of energy.” Each company member must become proficient not only in the dances of his or her own region, but in the traditions of other Guinean people.

Founded in 1952 by distinguished Guinean choreographer Keita Fodeba, Les Ballets Africains became the national ensemble of the Republic of Guinea in 1958, when the country gained its independence. The company played a pivotal role in bringing traditional African dance to the attention of the global community.

According to Amaniyea Payne, artistic director of Chicago’s Muntu Dance Theatre, Les Ballets Africains was one of the first companies in Africa to bring a structure and formula to traditional dance. “Keita Fodeba was very focused on preserving traditional value and form,” she says. “He really thought about how to bring this dance to international stages.”

Artistic director Hamidou Bangoura continues Fodeba’s legacy. Although the company’s most recent productions have been based on traditional stories—“Mandinka Memories” tells a folktale about Soundiata Keita, who couldn’t walk when he was born but grew up to defeat a great tyrant and become a celebrated king—Bangoura has infused the stories with contemporary movement. Certain sections of “Mandinka Memories” feature break-dancing moves.

“That’s what folklore is all about,” Payne says. “It expresses the social, economic, and political experience of a people through dance and story and song. And while there’s a certain amount of mythology, the work is also concerned with what’s happening now. These dances are ever evolving. Even though some of us choose to create traditional or formal work, we are contemporary artists.”

When Les Ballets Africains came to Chicago seven years ago, it shared a stage with Muntu as a part of Dance Africa. This time around, Muntu presents the work of the Guinean company. “Presenting,” Payne says “is a new role for us”—one that the company hopes to take on in a bigger way when it moves into its new facility on the South Side.

Payne hopes that the performance will increase interest in local companies like Muntu, who perform and teach West African dance, but she believes that the company’s energy will appeal to a broad audience. “We are talking about something universal. The drum beat is like the heartbeat—everyone gets touched and inspired by it.”

Les Ballets Africains opens at the Harris Tuesday Mar 6.