Siki

05. + 06.04.19, 19:00,
ALIOUNE DIAGNE,
Senegal – German Premiere
[HAU3]

With this piece Alioune Diagne revives the spirit and story of the forgotten Senegalese boxing hero Battling Siki. Every dance here is a fight, and every fight a dance.

Siki was the first African boxing world champion, he won his title in Paris in 1922. He fought in the boxing ring, but also against the standard racism of the period, on his journey through Europe and the United States. He was shot and killed in New York at the age of 28. Despite his eventful and extravagant life Battling Siki’s story remains relatively unknown in Senegal, and non-existing to the rest of the world. The piece is a dialogue, comprising of dancing and boxing, between yesterday and today, seeing and being seen, Battling Siki and Alioune Diágne – two townsfolk from Saint-Louis, approximately same age, divided by a century.

Duration: 50 min

Choreography and dance: Alioune Diagne
Dramaturgy: Anoek Nuyens
Research and artistic advice: Maaike Cotterink
Audio fragments from a.o. the movie „Siki“: Niek Koppen and „Boy Saloum“: Audrey Gallet
Sound: Simone Giacomini, Jacques Lynedjian, Maaike Cotterink
Production: Compagnie Diagn’Art – Maaike Cotterink
Co-produktion: Korzo, Ballet Preljocaj – Centre Chorégraphique National, Gemeente Den Haag, Pamoja
Programme: ACP-Culture, funded by the European union, implemented Studios Kabako.

Photos © Korzo