My journey with West African dance

Dance has always been my greatest passion in life. On St. Lucia island, in the Caribbean, I discovered my natural gift and danced with the local population on festivities. Elders encouraged me to continue: “It is beautiful your dance, don`t stop!”
In my early twenties I discovered West African dancing when I received my elementary teaching diploma in Switzerland.

We were asked to create a choreography three minutes long for a dance. At that time, I have not been accompanied by live drumming. I used a CD by Touré Kunda from Senegal.

A few years later, a teacher for traditional West African dance and drum from Burkina Faso, his name was Daouda Coulibaly, moved to my hometown Lucerne, Switzerland. With him I got the chance to study dance and drum privately and in groups for over ten years.

In 2002, Sobonfu Somé from Burkina Faso became my spiritual teacher. In 2007, I decided to go on a trip with Sobonfu visiting her beautiful tribe, the Dagara people, which became the most important trip of my life. Communicating through movement, I have been studying for so many years, I realised in dancing with the local people in the village, that it is possible to become fluent in a non-verbal language.