Jolie Ngemi (born 16 April 1989) is a

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

r and performance artist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Biography

Ngemi was born on 16 April 1989. She has danced from an early age: she first began to dance in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

at the Protestant church there. She also took part in hip-hop dance battles in the streets of Kinshasa with the group, Rue Des Danses Urbains Hip-hop. She moved to Brussels to study at The Performing Arts and Research Training School (P.A.R.T.S.). She studied there for two years.

Career

Ngemi is a well-known dancer and choreographer from the DRC. Her style of dance fuses Congolese dances from the streets and clubs with European traditions of dance. The style is described it as ''Chakamadesu A U C'' - Afro, Urban & Contemporary (chaka madesu is a Congolese stew, cooked in a variety of ways). In 2006 she worked with the choreographer Jacques Banayang, who introduced her to contemporary dance. In 2008 she toured Africa and Europe as part of a work created by the choreographer Thomas Styeart. She has worked with

Ula Sickle Ula Sickle is a Canadian / Polish choreographer and performer residing in the Brussels-Capital Region. Training Ula Sickle studied art history and semiotics at the University of Toronto and then performing arts at the Université Paris 8. Afte ...

on a project entitled ''Jolie'' and on other projects well-known choreographers. She has worked with Boris Charmatz on several projects. Ngemi's work can be political and in 2015 she collaborated with rapper and producer Baloji on a work that criticised the influence that cellphone and alcohol industries have on society in the DRC. One venue for this performance was at the

Fondation Cartier The Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, known simply as the Fondation Cartier, is a contemporary art museum located at 261 boulevard Raspail in the 14th arrondissement of the French capital, Paris. History The Fondation Cartier was cre ...

in Paris. The work ''Jolie'' has been performed around the world, including at the Reykjavik Dance Festival. It too is political, questioning where the profit from its mineral wealth in diamonds, coltan and tin ends up. Her 2018 work ''Identity n’a ngai'' collaborated with composer Yann Leguay, who used field recordings from Kinshasa at night to inform to piece. In 2019 she performed in the ensemble for Ligia Lewis' production ''Water Mill''.

References

External links

*Vimeo
Jolie Ngemi ON identity n’a ngai
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngemi, Jolie 1989 births Living people Democratic Republic of the Congo dancers People from Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo choreographers Women choreographers 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people