2023-10-20 20:54:05
Over sixty artists from more than twelve nations showed on Friday, October 20, 2023
Linz (OTS) – AFRICA! AFRICA! – Premiere for the new show from the Continent of Amazement!
Over sixty artists from more than twelve nations showed their skills at the new AFRIKA show in Linz on Friday, October 20, 2023! AFRICA! Almost 1,000 guests in the packed circus tent at the Urfahranermarkt celebrated the new edition of the show with standing ovations for minutes.
Meter-high human pyramids, spectacular handstand acrobatics, juggling, cloth acrobatics on a rope… That’s one side of the show “Africa! Africa!”. There are also dances from traditional Africa and modern street and break dance with atmospheric live accompaniment by the in-house band. Africa as a continent has many facets and offers numerous perspectives. Some only see wars, hunger and suffering. Africa! Africa! Director and chief choreographer Georges Momboye emphasizes: “With our show we want to present a life-affirming, colorful and hopeful side of Africa. We want to bring joy to people’s hearts.”
If you take the spectators applauding and, above all, dancing, smiling, as a benchmark, Momboye and his team succeeded in this task. By the finale with the entire ensemble, no one was left in their seats. For minutes there was cheering and dancing in the authentic circus tent and the barrier between actors and spectators seemed to be broken.
Each number was received with amazement and joy by the audience. For example, the gold medal winners of the 2023 international circus festival in Paris. The troupe from Ethiopia combines springboard acrobatics in a unique way with so-called Ikarian games, in which bodies are whirled through the air on their feet.
The graduates of the Hakuna Matata circus school in Tanzania easily built human pyramids up to the top of the tent. Men and women float through the circus roundel on ropes or their own hair. Dozens of balls are juggled on the air and ground and much more happens in the show, which lasts around two hours with a break. Winston Ruddle, Artistic Director of Africa! Africa! as well as head of the circus school in Tanzania, caused laughter as a clown and demonstrated great talent as a rapper and entertainer.
There is always time for dances in the show. They range from the Zaouli, the fast feet of the ivory arts, to the wild dances in Senegal, the gumboot dance from South Africa to modern street and acrobatic break dance. The ten-member band around Francky Moulet accompanies the goings-on in the circus with fast beats, atmospheric ballads, traditional rhythms and variations of various pop and rock songs. The filmic animations on the large LED wall in which the band is housed also create an atmosphere and amazement.
The show’s success story began in 2005 with a circus tent in Frankfurt am Main. Since then, Africa has returned! Africa! back several times as an indoor tour. After André Heller said goodbye to the show in 2014, his friend and long-time co-director Georges Momboye took over the management of the project. Momboye is the grandson of a tribal chief from the Ivory Coast and is now one of the most renowned representatives of African dance as well as a globally acclaimed director and choreographer.
AFRICA! AFRICA! 2023/24 connects the artistic present with the traditional heritage of the “Continent of Amazement” – with artists from, among others, Ethiopia, the country with the most circus schools in Africa, as well as from Ivory Coast, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Senegal and Congo , Guinea, Mauritius and Burkina, but also from France, Germany, Croatia and Colombia.
AFRICA! AFRICA! – Zelttournee 2023/2
20.10.2023 – 05.11.2023 Linz Urfahranermarkt
10.11.2023 – 19.11.2023 Innsbruck Olympiahalle parking lot west
24.11.2023 – 10.12.2023 Klagenfurt Messe Klagenfurt outdoor area west
15.12.2023 – 14.01.2024 Graz Graz trade fair outdoor area
18.01.2024 – 18.02.2024 Wien St. Marx outdoor area
22.02.2024 – 02.03.2024 Salzburg Zirkuswiese MFA
Subject to change. All current dates at: www.afrikaafrika.info
Tickets are on sale now www.afrikaafrika.info and www.oeticket.com as well as available at numerous advance booking offices.
Press contact: Katrin Bratko, Stargarage Entertainment GmbH (organizer)
E-Mail: [email protected]
Web: www.stargarage.at
Tel: 0043 6805021698
Questions & Contact:
Katrin Bratko
katrin.bratko@stargarage.at
+43 680 5021698
1697837137
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