Les Ecailles de la Mémoire: The Burden and the Beauty of Memory

The United States has elected its first African American president, and much public discourse has centered around the significance of this turn in American history. It is, of course, a tremendous moment, but what bothers me about the current media hoopla surrounding Obama is the sub-text of absolution; it is as if by having elected a man of colour to the most powerful position in the U.S. government, the rest of America can wipe the slate clean of its past and ignore its present tragedies.

So, while Obama may have ascended to the highest heights, African American and African history continues to unfold, and in its unfolding it presents challenges alongside successes, beauty alongside tragedy. *Les Ecailles de la Mémoire*, which was performed at the Vancouver Playhouse on November 7th and 8th, addresses the many and varied voices that emerge from a complex history that ties together continents and cultures. In its themes and in its narrative construction, this show proposes that the past, present and future is still being written and re-written. So, while the news media announces a new era, this show offers those of us who are willing to watch and listen the opportunity to see and hear a polyphony of voices that tell of a rich and varied experience, one that will not be overlooked in the face of one man’s remarkable achievement. Les Ecailles de la Mémoire is the final product of a collaboration of the Brooklyn-based all-female company, Urban Bush Women, with the Senegalese all-male Compagnie Jant-Bi. Choreographed by Zawola Willa Jo Zolar of Urban Bush Women and Germaine Acogny of Compagnie Jant Bi, with the cooperation of the dancers, Les Ecailles de la Mémoire is itself a reflection of the convergence of African and African American history. Putting their political ideologies into action, each of these companies is committed to creating work that provides a vocabulary for African and African American artists to express their experiences. In Senegal, Germaine Acogny strives to provide training in traditional African dance and in contemporary dance for dancers from all parts of Africa, while Zawola Willa Jo Zolar is a proud Brooklynite who sees dance as an expression of community involvement. So while the piece itself may not be overtly political, the creation of Les Ecailles de la Mémoire is an acknowledgement of a history that has been, at times, tragic and destructive. By creating something beautiful out of the difficult themes being explored, the choreographers and dancers emerge victorious. Trying to write about Les Ecailles de la Mémoire feels like trying to contain a waterfall in my cupped hands. It is too visceral, too epic in its proportions to describe easily, yet it is too important a piece to fail to discuss. It is a piece that blazes onto the stage and brings with it evocative images meant to conjure African and African American history, and, more specifically the themes of resistance, memory and love. It is always impressive to see many dancers on stage at one time, and Les Ecailles de la Mémoire makes full use of the technical virtuosity and expressive range of all 14 performers. As individuals and as members of a collective, the dancers created a series of non-linear scenarios, each of which conveyed a feeling, a story or an idea. By rejecting mime or mimicry and leaning towards abstractioned, the piece breathes life into powerful ideas and emotions, expressing the full range of human experience from comedy to tragedy. Very near the beginning, there was a sequence in which one woman spoke in a language that sounded like Creole, leaving me, and I imagine most of the audience to only imagine what was being said. Gradually the other women and men began to speak as well, first in turn and then one overlapping the other. They seemed to be naming names, and though it was hard to make out everything that was being said the words “daughter” and “granddaughter” were spoken over and over, evoking, for me, a sense of loss, of homage to those who were not there. Some of the later pieces were forceful and kinetic, while others were playful and injected levity into a performance that did not shy away from creating images that conjured feelings of pain or even agony. In one section seven men entered the stage, each one wearing a red shirt that was abruptly torn off and used in a fast-paced and percussive choreography. In another segment, one of the women flirted with the men and with the audience by repeatedly flipping up the edge of her skirt in a playfully seductive gesture. And in yet another the 14 dancers paired up and performed seven tender duets, each dancer seeming to care intensely for his/her partner, each pair wrapped up in their own world as though gathering strength from a place of softness in a world that was not so soft. The music and the style of dancing in this choreography reflect the diversity of the African/African American experience. The influence of West African dance could easily be seen in the movement vocabulary, while other sections of the choreography alluded to hip hop. The costumes and music were similarly diverse, melding street clothes with head scarves, drums with ambient sound. What impressed me most about this piece was the dancers’ absolute commitment. It was without a doubt one of the more difficult choreographies that I’ve seen, requiring athleticism and extraordinary strength as well as speed and flexibility from all of the dancers. Because the company is so large, it is all the more impressive that there was not a single weak link, not a moment where the intensity dropped. Watching this show, I felt each dancer was telling me a story, a story that they had a personal stake in vividly interpreting. Les Escalliers reminds me why I love dance. It has an energy and an urgency that conveys humankind’s most deeply felt desires, our most painful experiences, our most erotic memories, as well as our most uplifting moments of hope and of epiphany. Les Ecailles de la Mémoire is, then, not merely the telling of a particular history. It is, by its own creative provenance, an expression of the highest possibilities of human collaboration and cooperation. Having moved from agony to comedy and back again, the dancers returned to the form and recitations that began the piece. After all the frenzy and the labour of expended energy, the dancers uttered their final words “J’accepte, I accept”. Without knowing precisely what is being referred to, it is easy to guess that what is being accepted is the human history represented in all of the differing segments of this piece, and also the responsibility or the challenge to move forward and to create a future that honours the past, and challenges the present. By not shying away from politics and from struggle, Les Ecailles de la Mémoire is one of the most relevant and aesthetically interesting dance pieces I have seen in a long time.