Djata : Conversations du Manden

Inspired by the Epic of Sundiata, a founding tale from the thirteenth century passed down by griots (poets, musicians, and guardians of memory), Aly Keita pays homage to the roots, transmissions, and alliances that forge identities and transcend time. Dance extends this story through gesture, the buried voice projects itself, and instruments revive connections with the ancestral. The body rises with the breath of life, the fôli, a rhythm that animates all things. Underpinned by the values of courage, resilience, and unity, the work embodies the legacy of a precious culture, rich in lessons for a plural society, and invites us to imagine new ways of making the world, together. Two hunters arrive at the court of King Naré Maghan, accompanied by Sogolon, a woman connected to the invisible, capable of transforming into a buffalo. To produce the heir destined to make the Manding immortal, the king must first strip Sogolon of her supernatural strength. Their union then becomes a struggle between two incredible forces: the spirit of the buffalo within her and that of the lion within him. From this union, Sundiata Keita is born, but the child is unable to walk. He endures years of mockery and humiliation, until one day, against all odds, he stands up, walks to a baobab tree, and uproots it. Thus begins an era of prosperity, which will bring together the peoples of West Africa—all the way to Guinea, Aly Keita's homeland.