Germaine Acogny (born 1944) is a

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

ese dancer and choreographer. She is responsible for developing "African Dance", as well as the creation of several dance schools in both France and Senegal. She has been decorated by both countries, including being an Officer of the in France, and a Knight of the

National Order of the Lion ("One People, One Goal, One Faith") , eligibility = , criteria = , status = Active , founder = , head_title = Grand Master , head = Macky Sall , head2_title = Grand Chancellor , head2 ...

Early life

Born in Benin in 1944 to a Senegalese civil servant, Germaine Acogny was also a descendant of the

Yoruba people The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitut ...

through her grandmother. When she was 10, the family moved to

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...

, where she spent the remainder of her childhood. After showing a natural ability in dancing, she decided to pursue this as a career, moving to France in the 1960s to study

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

at the École Simon-Siégel in Paris.

Dance career

Upon her return to

, she began to teach dance locally, both privately and as part of the local secondary education system. During this period she developed a new style, which she would later call the "African dance". After choreographing dance to the poem ''Femme Noir, Femme Nu'', she came to the attention of the author -

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Léopold Sédar Senghor Léopold Sédar Senghor (; ; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese poet, politician and cultural theorist who was the first president of Senegal (1960–80). Ideologically an African socialist, he was the major theoretician o ...

of Senegal. After realising they had similar aspirations for African identity and culture, he sent her to work with choreographer

Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French-born dancer, choreographer and opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, talking vast th ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. With the assistance of Senghor and Béjart, she founded Mudra Afrique, a school of dance in 1977. While Béjart initially set the

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

, which included Acogny's modern dance techniques. He eventually recruited more dance teachers from the United States and attempted to take over Acogny's portion of the curriculum; she confronted him and demanded she was made the sole director of the school instead. He agreed, and she combined the work of the foreign teachers with her own within the school. She continued to develop the African dance as an ongoing hybrid between modern western styles and traditional African techniques. In 1980, she wrote and published ''Danse Africaine'' (''African Dance''), which set the standard for Senegalese dance. She left Mudra Afrique in 1982. Three years later, she founded Studio Ecole Ballet Theatre in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

, France, alongside her husband Helmut Vogt. She returned to Senegal to in 1995, and opened the dance school l'Ecole des Sables there three years later. She involved the local villagers in the performances, with the studio set in the open air overlooking the ocean. Around the same time as the new school opened, she began collaborating with overseas choreographers such as Susanne Linke and Kota Yamasaki to with on her company Jant-Bi to develop three hour dances for evening performances. Between 1997 and 2000, she was the Artistic Director of the Dance section of the Paris-based Afrique en Creation. On February 17, 2021, she received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement by the Venice Dance Biennale.

Awards

*Chevalier of the Order of Merit (France) *Officer of the (France) *Chavalier of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

(France) *Knight of the

(Senegal) *Officier et Commandeur des Arts et Lettres (Senegal) *"PioneerWoman" by the Senegalese Ministry of the Family and the National Solidarity (1999) *

Bessie Award The New York Dance and Performance Awards, also known as the Bessie Awards, are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, ...

, jointly with the Japanese Kota Yamazaki for the choreography ''Fagaala'' (New York, 2007) *Bessie Award for performance in the solo ''Mon élue noire-sacre # 2'' (New York, 2018) *Award for Lifetime achievement in the field of choreography, movement and dance from the Cairo International Festival for Experimental and Contemporary Theatre (2018) *

ECOWAS The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...

Excellence Award in the category Arts and Letters (2019) *Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2004) * Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement by the Venice Dance Biennale (2021).

Notes

References

External links

Official website of l'Ecole des Sables
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acogny, Germaine Living people Senegalese female dancers Senegalese dancers Senegalese choreographers Senegalese women artists Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 1944 births Senegalese people of Yoruba descent Yoruba women Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of Senegal