BAMBU

BAMBU debuts at Romaeuropa Festival on October 7 and 8 at the Mattatoio. The project, conceived by Roberto Castello, presents three contemporary dance solos by African artists: Julie Iarisoa (Madagascar), Aziz Zoundi (Burkina Faso), and Humphrey Maleka (South Africa). A cultural bridge between Africa and Italy, BAMBU promotes an exchange based on respect and reciprocity, inspired by the thought of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o. Not just performances, but a sustainable model of artistic cooperation.

Un voyage autour de mon nombril by JULIE IARISOA

Un voyage autour de mon nombril denounces the unjust difficulty of traveling for Malagasy citizens, but it is also an attempt to respond to this situation. “If for us it is difficult to travel from one country to another or from one city to another, we can take the opportunity to travel within ourselves.”

With this solo, Julie Iarisoa addresses one of the most pressing issues: the loneliness of isolation. The island becomes a metaphor for the human condition. On a stage scattered with paper boats—tragic echoes of the crossings we hear about every day—an immobile body appears that, in a slow tension, electrifies itself, then bursts into increasingly intense movements. In this flow, dance and music merge to the point of paroxysm, alternating moments of frenzy with suspensions filled with breath, between hope and disillusion.

Naka tša go rwešwa by HUMPHREY MALEKA

“One summer day in 1886, two prospectors discovered gold on a farm in the Transvaal called Langlaagte. Gold was nothing new for the Transvaal, Africans had already been mining it for centuries.” – A People’s History of South Africa: Gold & Workers 1886–1924, vol. 1 – Luli Callinicos.

Naka tša go rwešwa begins from the word “discovery”: the “discoveries” made by foreigners in Africa, and the symbolic and concrete violence with which, after such discoveries, new names were imposed on people, places, and objects. Names meant to erase histories, meanings, and identities.

Chute Perpetuelle by AZIZ ZOUNDI

In this piece, Aziz reveals that fragile moment in life when choices are made and their consequences must be faced. In Burkina Faso, becoming an artist is very difficult, especially in a family that openly opposed this path. Only an aunt supported Aziz: she was a pillar for him, a source of strength and hope throughout his training. The death of this aunt gave rise to the work, which becomes an act of care and remembrance. An attempt to process grief, bringing to the stage the scar of that “fall.”