On November 17 and 18, the “Breaking Ground Dance Series” brought Compagnie TchéTché to the Patricelli ’92 Theater for a performance of their original piece, “Dimi.” The Côte d’Ivoire-based troupe consisted of four female dancers, including choreographer and founder Béatrice Kombé and two musical accompanists.
The piece began with a single dancer standing with her back to the audience. Clad in black from head to toe, she moved slowly at first, as if too jarring an action would have broken her fragile body. She picked up her feet, one by one, placing each carefully on the ground again. This image of the fragile woman was employed and negated throughout “Dimi.”
The dance, which seeks to destroy the myth of woman as the weaker sex, presented a series of contrasting images. The four dancers appeared in white, red, and black, dressed in the archetypal clothing of women and, later, men. They shifted quickly from flowing feminine movements to the aggressive drills of a warrior, from the chorus to solo, from isolation to contact. Each movement called into question the nature of femininity, asking the audience members to reconstruct their notion of woman.
The dance was experimental not only in that it combined traditional movements of West-African dance with a mime of everyday movements in innovative ways, but also in its reconfiguration of traditional gender roles.
“I found the performances of just the four women highly resonant and emotive,” said Emily Greenhouse ’08. “I was impressed by the vibrancy of their movements.”
The piece created a mood that permeated the ’92, as each dancer embodied the pain and fear of womanhood, only to shake it off in favor of a stronger, empowering sisterhood. The original score, which employed voice, flute, and keyboard, amplified the intensity of the piece, translating the emotions of the dancers. By the end of the piece, tears were streaming down the faces of the four women. Clearly the dance was more than a performance. It was the act of a woman breaking out of the fragile role designed for her.
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