Germaine Acogny Technique
The École des Sables & the eeg-cowles Foundation with C’est Comment have come together to propose a program
PRESENTATION
The program responds to an urgent professional and economic need. In Africa, dance is still rarely recognized as a full- fledged professional discipline despite a growing demand for classes with qualified teachers. State of the art teaching dance today includes knowledge of somatic approaches and movement analysis, included in this program. Upon successful completion of both sessions, candidates will receive a diploma.
BACKGROUND
In the different countries of Africa, dance accompanies all rites of passage: births, baptisms, circumcisions, weddings, funerals… Dance is a means for transmitting traditions, the history of regions and peoples. The traditional dances of Africa are an essential part of its non-material cultural heritage, they are the living expression of beliefs and carry the memory of the evolution of its cultures.
Today, dance also responds to a new demand coming from modern civil society.
The dances of West Africa have gained an international visibility through social media, television and musicals. They are now perfomed as an art form that occurs both in villages and in the city as well as on national and international stages. In addition, the dances are taught on all continents of the world in both studio and university courses. And yet, the transmission of dances in an institution is rare in West Africa itself.
Also, in West Africa as elsewhere in the world, dance is not reserved just for professionals on stage. Dance classes are happening in all areas of life, practised by amateurs for well-being, in schools for cognitive enhancement or in the social sector such as prisons, refugee camps, hospitals, and special needs areas, to give only a few examples. There is also a growing offer of dance workshops for adult amateurs who come to Africa from Europe, America or Asia. Faced with these demands, there is a shortage of qualified teachers. Whether by vocation, professional choice or economic necessity, many African dancers move towards teaching without having undergone any training themselves. Offering a program in the Acogny Technique, including somatic approaches to movement and the history of African dances, will make it possible to fill the almost total gap in training in dance pedagogy in West Africa. It will offer to all future teachers of the Acogny Technique the skills they need to garantee the quality of their classes.
- training in the Acogny Technique;
- improving the quality of dance education in West Africa and elsewhere;
- acquiring skills acquired through a certification program;
- developing a remunerative professional activity: the teaching of dance;
- inquiring into an in-depth knowledge of oneself, of one’s body, of one’s own dance;
- recognizing the importance of African dances, both traditional and creative, through quality transmission.
