Award-winning Senegalese filmmaker Mamadoudia (“Father of Nafi”) is in the post-production of “Legacy,” a documentary tracking students at the legendary West African dance school. The director will present the film at the final cut workshop of the Venice Production Bridge for post-production films from the African and Arab worlds, which will be held from August 31st to September 2nd.
“Legacy” follows a group of third-grade students at Ecole desable, which DIA described as “the league of the Ivy League of Dance Schools in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Founded by legendary Senegalese dancer and choreographer Jermaine Akogni, the school offers students across Africa a rigorous introduction to the modern world of dance, preparing for an uncertain future outside the academy door.
The film is a homage to Acogny and a response to what DIA describes as a troublesome lack of “film testimony” about Africa’s “living heroes.” “How many (continental) filmmakers are taking the time to make statements about who they are, the lives they guide, the times they live in?” he said. “It’s not just about culture and dance, it’s also about the environment, it’s about legacy, it’s about how we express ourselves and who speaks for us.”
In “Legacy,” the director said he didn’t try to create a “classic portrait” of Acogny, widely regarded as “the mother of modern African dance.” “I wanted to see her through the people she trained,” he said. The focus was on students who committed themselves to dancing “body and soul,” and on their hopes of winning the blessings of “Maman Jermaine.”
Following them throughout their last year at school, Deer expresses their hopes and fear, exploring how dance can be used not only as a series of rhythmic moves, but also as a way to make statements and ask provocative questions. “How can I dance to share political opinions? How can I dance to blame something? How can I dance to celebrate something?” Dia said.
In addition to its reputation as a dance academy, Ecole desable is renowned for its picturesque environment along the Atlantic coast in a small fishing village in Torba Bladearrow. (“I hear the birds. I hear the ocean. I hear the waves,” said Deer. I wax poeticly about the school’s “Parajiciaca” background.) However, Senegal has begun construction on what is being billed as West Africa’s largest port, placing the very presence of Epuerdi’s dance school.
“This school is changing,” Deer said. “(Students) are in the dance and they know very much how ecosystems change. How do they adapt to it?
“Legacy” marks the long-awaited return to Lido for Dia, who debuted his short film “Samedicinema” in the horizon section of the 2016 Venice Festival.
Dia quickly appeared as a talent, as the debut feature “Baamum Nafi” (Nafi’s father), which won the best first feature at the Locarno Film Festival in 2019, and as the current section’s prestigious Swiss Fest filmmaker and Golden Leopard Award-winning talent. His sophomore effort, “Demba,” premiered last year in Berlin’s competitive encounter strand.
“Legacy” was produced by Joyedidi’s Maba BA, a Dakar and NY-based production outfit co-produced by Dia, in France, with Eugénie Michel Villette. He received support from the French Ministry of Culture through a film support scheme on dance.
The film is a homage to an incredible life led by Acogny, who is away from the teachings of everyday life, but Dia said she is always present with the activities of Ecole des Sabs. “Germaine has taught dance for the rest of her life. Her legacy passes through (the teacher),” Deer said. “It’s her school, her home, her techniques.” Her presence at the academy is more than spiritual. Her home is on the school grounds.
“This is someone who has never taken a break. She’s just going on,” Deer said. “Today she’s 81 years old and still in school. She dances. She’s touring the world. I think it’s great to see someone standing there with such pride,” he continued.
