L’Opéra du Villageois

In his performative dance parcours, he leads us through the museum and opens up a dimension in the ritual that creates a new perspective on the shared colonial history and its representations. L‘Opéra du villageois (The Villager’s Opera) pays homage to the inhabitants of the villages, long considered ‘uncivilized’, to awaken their strength and resistance.

Dancer and choreographer Zora Snake tells us about the hidden journey of the masks as private treasures, capitalist goods, looted art, and  about the whippings that the bodies of his ancestors endured.  “Some of our independence fighters have spoken out against the violence of the colonial masters. It is the power of our quiet wealth that is awakened by the performances and screams. Today, the beatings reveal the atrocities of a time when people used masks to heal, end wars, appease and forge new connections,” says the performer. “Once in the museum, the masks are damaged and have lost their function in their society of origin due to alienation from their original places.“

With the flag of the European Union, a funeral and a ritual centered on gold and salt, Zora Snake manifests the history of this looting of cultural belongings and the artistic diversity of this heritage that is still alive. In the aesthetics of the bare body, European performance, Cameroonian dance and the materiality of his props, he renders the debate about origin and property, division and reconciliation, tangible.

“The sacred belly of the mask is an ‘object of art’ in the museum, but it also represents the construct of an organized society burdened with a legacy. We are the continuity of this great reincarnation with its inexhaustible and cultural riches, long silent in the colonial apparatus.” Zora Snake

Zora Snake is a dancer, choreographer and performance artist, founder of the company Zora Snake and the international festival Modaperf in Cameroon. He performs internationally and mixes artistic creation in public space, performance and political-poetic ritual, art and society. The development of civil society through performances Cameroon’s districts is particularly important to him. He has won numerous prizes and works with renowned artists, including Serge Aimé Coulibaly and Fabrice Murgia. He was a guest at the Cité Internationale des Arts, the Palais de Tokyo and the Center Beaubourg in Paris, at africologneFESTIVAL and Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum – Kulturen der Welt in Cologne, at Zürcher Theaterspektakel / Museum Rietberg. His production Shadow Survivors  premiered 2023 in Nancy. www.zorasnake.com

Concept & performance: Zora Snake

Live music: Maddly Mendy Sylva

Audiosound: Débats politiques

Texts: Aimé Césaire

Voice: Carolyne Cannella

Instrumental music: Bebe Wandja, Bamlileke

Production: Compagnie Zora Snake

Support: Faso Danse Théâtre, Paris

- free admission

- Q&A on November 9, 2024, 7:00 pm & November 10, 2024, 2:00 pm

- Starting point: 2nd floor, room 216 (Cameroon collection) Ethnologisches Museum, 2. OG

- Belongs to: Transkontinentale