The founder of the dance company Nyata Nyata, which is preparing to grace the stage at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC) on April 6, says she started dancing before she even knew she was dancing because she grew up in Africa.

SA国际影视传媒淒ancing is very much part of how we live there,SA国际影视传媒� Zab Maboungou said of the influence music has on the way of life of its residents, specifically in the Congo-Brazzaville region.

Now an award-winning choreographer living in Montreal, Maboungou is sought out for her powerful stage performances that meld together the artistic power of rhythm, dance and music resulting in a powerful mind, body and spirit connection.

Maboungou said while studying philosophy in France, she continued to dance with the various performance groups that would arrive from Africa, thereby learning about the diversity of African dance and the many forms and rhythms it encompasses.

SA国际影视传媒淚 really saw the wealth of information that I could get from dancing, plus reflecting on what it means to be in this world,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淎nd I havenSA国际影视传媒檛 stopped since, wondering what it is to be in this world.

SA国际影视传媒淯sing the nature of dance, when I arrived in Canada, I was already full of these ideas and moves and I created the company in 1987,SA国际影视传媒� she said.

Gaining ancestral knowledge

Since then, Maboungou said she has complemented dance with a training program for dancers SA国际影视传媒渢o make sure that I was really able to transmit some of the knowledge and know-how coming from ancestral sources.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淏ecause those dances are old, but at the same time they are very contemporary because they have fused with modernity. When you look at the jazz, blues, hip hop, discoSA国际影视传媒� it all has to do with African rhythms.SA国际影视传媒�

Having grown up in a household that was conscious of what it was like to fight for their culture due to colonization by the French, Maboungou said she was raised to know what history is, what it means and how we can understand our time on Earth.

SA国际影视传媒淪o for me, rhythm is about all of that.SA国际影视传媒�

While she uses drums in her choreography, she said even if she uses cello or if there is silence, it still has to do with the drum.

SA国际影视传媒淏ecause the drum is the heart of the human being, so once you have that knowledge of the heart, the pulse, the time, the space, flowing in you and outside of you, this is it SA国际影视传媒� ISA国际影视传媒檝e resolved my way of choreographing.SA国际影视传媒�

Transcending space and time

During the upcoming Yellowknife performance entitled Mozongi, Maboungou said the audience can expect to see SA国际影视传媒渟pace and time flowing out of bodies.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淎nd there are two musicians who are very much part of the piece as the dancers themselves, and six dancers on stage. And it is important to understand that the musicians are not just accompanists but are part of what is going on.

SA国际影视传媒淭his is a piece I created and this is how I compose. I use this structure of call/answer in this piece,SA国际影视传媒� she said of the repertoire.

Maboungou said the question/answer aspect is a very important feature of African music as well as in traditional or ancestral music such as First Nation music, which uses the method in exactly the same way.

The performance at NACC is one that is iconic, she said, adding that SA国际影视传媒渋t has really set a standard for the company.SA国际影视传媒�

As well as choreographing the dance, Maboungou said she also composes the music using the rhythms of the drums.

SA国际影视传媒淭he idea of the music is that, very often, people have the wrong view of what drumming is about. They think that the drum tells the dancers what to do, but the fact is that the drum sets the time for conversation, where everybody is summoned to that conversation or to that dialogue.

SA国际影视传媒淪o the dancers bodies are rhythmic SA国际影视传媒� the body moves a certain way. Then the drummers have the language to see how the body moves, so they can basically compose life happening.SA国际影视传媒�

Unique inspiration

Leonora Moncada, the development manager for Nyata Nyata, said the performance is very unique from other forms of contemporary dance.

SA国际影视传媒淲e need a certain inspiration based on African lines of dancing and posture. So this is the difference,SA国际影视传媒� Moncada said. SA国际影视传媒淚 think it will be very new in Yellowknife. Everyone will be very amazed because it is a specific approach.SA国际影视传媒�