This workshop, led by AlterCadance ASBL, brings movement, voice and breath into dialogue with live music and artworks. Through Afro-contemporary dance and sounds made both with the body and with instruments, participants explore artist Igshaan Adams’s installations first-hand, encountering woven memories that speak of resilience and care.

Taking inspiration from the ‘dance print’ visual pieces created through Garage Dance Ensemble’s performances for Igshaan Adams, these workshops invite participants to co-create a living collective artwork in which movement, voice and gesture make their presence felt within a space of clouds and weaves.

Through this introduction to dance, singing and music, participants will experience Afro-contemporary practice from within and venture across disciplines to create a collective, inclusive performance.

• Rooted in African traditions, Afro-contemporary dance is a practice centred on energy and well-being, training both body and mind and transcending language to open up a mode of communication beyond words.
• With its meditative polyphonies, this form of African music awakens cellular memories held deep within the body.
• Polyphonic singing brings out each participant’s natural voice, whether beginner or experienced, while gentle movement harmonises the breath and releases a powerful, joyful emotional energy.

Biographies:  

Originally from Cameroon, Modestine Ekete is a multidisciplinary artist deeply rooted in Bamilékétraditions. After discovering theatre in Yaoundé in 1990, she developed a practice that spans dance, singing, percussion and acting. She trained in dance with Paul Kengmo’s Le Baobab company and became a member of Cameroon’s Comité national de la Danse. After winning the first Concours de Danse Africaine Contemporaine, she represented her country as a dancer and assistant choreographer at the first gathering devoted to contemporary African choreography, held in Luanda, Angola, in 1995. In 1998, Ekete won second prize at the Festival des Arlequins de Cholet in France for À la tête du client. She has taken part in the Fiesta des Suds, the Carnaval de Marseille and three editions of the Festival d’Avignon. In 2004, she represented France at Liverpool’s Brouhaha International Festival with her choreographic work Zimna. Now based in Luxembourg, she founded the association AlterCadance and creates projects spanning music, dance and theatre. Ekete has made African dance a lasting fixture in the Grand Duchy and teaches the practice alongside polyphonic African singing, most notably at the University of Luxembourg as part of the APOTE project. She took part in Esch 2022 – European Capital of Culture with her work Pont invisible and is currently touring her new piece Zempia, pile ou face, which brings together professional dancers and secondary school students.

Amit Duhri is an Indian percussionist based in Luxembourg. He has performed professionally for sixteen years and has been active in the Grand Duchy for the past four. Amit has worked with DJs of various genres both in India and across Luxembourg and the surrounding region, accompanying them with everything from djembe, congas and bongos to timbales and didgeridoo. Over the years, Amit has performed at major corporate events, music festivals, public events and private functions across India, South Africa, Dubai, Thailand and Sri Lanka, and now in Europe. Amit is a member of numerous Luxembourg-based groups, among them From Trance to Dance, Authentica, Virginie Aurore, AlterCadance, Maya Likembe and Modestine Ekete Caravan. He also accompanies a wide range of vocalists. For Amit, percussion is the final brushstroke in a painting; in keeping, it is through rhythm that he lends each performance his finishing touch.

Luxembourg-based Patrick Temfack was born into a family of teachers. Relocating every three years due to his father’s job assignments, he grew up across multiple Cameroonian cities, immersing himself in a succession of local cultures. At 14, he joined the Lycée Général de Yaoundé orchestra as a drummer. He moved to Germany in 2009 to continue his studies, taking up the bass, performing with African student orchestras such as Binam and Matango and participating in multicultural festivals. He now works with African musicians in Luxembourg and the cross-border Greater Region. He is also musical director of the Awula Festival, an African storytelling event in Luxembourg.

AlterCadance ASBL is dedicated to initiating, developing and promoting traditional and contemporary African expressive arts. The association’s activities span performances, workshops, short courses, classes, lectures, training programmes, symposia, prize schemes, artist residencies, artistic research and award programmes, community festivals, gatherings and public events. It also works to establish delegations and branches in Africa and in participating Luxembourg municipalities. With work rooted in dance, song, storytelling, music and literature, its projects encompass artistic production, professional development through the ACDAMAF programme, and participatory community initiatives, including workshops, training courses, masterclasses and literary events. The team works to bring people together through creative practice, education, the sharing of knowledge and human values, and the cultivation of friendship and cultural exchange.