Germaine Acogny defines her very specific technique by these words: African dance in a modern expression.
Her technique relies mainly on the work of the spine and most of the movements are based on these three elements: ripple, contraction, vibration/ tremulations.
Many of these movements are inspired by nature – plants or animals – but also by daily life in Africa. It uses symbolic images from nature, such as the Fromager tree, the eagle, the rain, the water lily, the guinea hen...
The movements are precise, clearly defined and are deeply linked to breathing. The result is a very pure, powerful and elegant expression. Germaine Acogny also works with improvisation. The training encourages African dancers to discover their own path by transforming their traditional dances into a modern expression and form. The work of Germaine Acogny helps dancers to see their own gestures from a different angle, to analyze and use them with a new creativity.
Her technique is strongly linked to Africa while at the same time belonging to the universal. In the world of Western dance, she suggests practicing African dance for its richness, power and strength, and experiencing it as a new source of inspiration. The Acogny Technique offers finding the body lost by feeling earth, rhythm, heartbeat, and discovering a new flow of physical energy.
The Acogny Technique is comparable to western techniques of modern dance. It communicates the idea that the dances of Africa are an ongoing dialogue with the Cosmos. Germaine Acogny shares her universe of a joyful body with her technique based on the virtuosity of feeling. She is the first in Africa to have developed, since 1968, a contemporary African dance.
Her work focuses on the spine, which represents the serpent or the tree of life.
The important elements of this technique are: a strong anchorage in the ground, the movements of the torso and the movements of the spine (undulations, tremors, contractions).
Many of the movements are inspired by nature - plants or animals, but also by the elements of everyday life in Africa. They are precise and clearly defined and are deeply connected to breathing. The movements of the Germaine Acogny Technique are named on the basis of symbolic images extracted from nature such as the Fromager tree, the water lily, the deer.
These exercises help to free the body, to feel it in new ways, to be well rooted in the ground, to better appreciate one’s verticality and to open up towards the sky. The movements also contribute to the enrichment of the dancer’s body vocabulary.
Germaine Acogny’s courses are divided into three parts:
● Warm-up in a circle and/or using all available space;
● Standing barre;
● Barre on the ground;
● The combination of different movements, their transformation into a dance.
Certified teachers of the Acogny technique
Abdoulaye Kane (France)
Aïda Colmenero Dïaz (Spain)
Alesandra Seutin (Belgium)
Fabrice Mukala (DRC)
Ise Verstegen (The Netherlands)
Kodro Ange Evry Aoussou (Germany)
Lisette Simba (DRC)
Maguette Ndione (France)
Mekbul J. Tahir (United States)
Ndeye Touty Daffé (France)
Ramatoulaye Sarr (Senegal)
Omilade Davis-Smith (United States)
Raouf Tchakondo (Togo)
Richard Adossou (Benin)
Rokhaya Thioune (Senegal)
Wesley Ruzibiza (Rwanda)
English (UK) 
Français