RAMANENJANA

Info

Ramanenjana takes Antananarivo by storm! We never thought we would see such a thing in our lifetime, but thousands of dancers explode like a bomb. There is no sound in the city other than convulsions and convulsionaries. They make such a noise that it prevents us from sleeping.

Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, 1864

1863. Antananarivo. Thousands of people enter the city dancing in a hallucinatory way to the magnetic music of the drums. They can keep dancing for days without getting tired, in a powerful mental state that is difficult to define, performing impossible acrobatics and tensing their bodies in improvised movements. It is rumored that they have red eyes and that they want to convey the message of a mother to her son through their rigid movements.

In the general agitation, they are labeled sick, possessed, exploited, mad, pathologically empathetic, unnatural. The dancers are called Ramanenjana and go down in history as a group of people who were part of a choreomania, a mysterious mass dance, often called the «dance epidemic». It is unknown exactly how the disease that causes them to dance is transmitted. It is rumored to be contagious due to superstitions, the sound of music, exaggerated sympathy, or even mosquitoes.

Two months later, the «epidemic» comes to an abrupt halt as the political regime changes and European influence on the island diminishes.

1896. France annexes Madagascar. Ramanenjana floods the city again.

Simona Deaconescu (RO) and Gaby Saranouffi (MG / SA) present a docufiction show about a dance that made history, literally. In Malagasy, Ramanenjana means something that makes you rigid, but also something that makes you strong. In southern Madagascar, Ramanenjana can also mean respect for «manenjana», meaning respect for those who dance tensely.

The show critically discusses several versions of the same historical event, questioning the role of dance in society. Working closely with ethnomusicologist and musician Olombelo Ricky, the two choreographers and their team of three performers humorously explore rhythm in text, gesture, movement, and sound.

In Ramanenjana, four languages ​​are spoken, and contradictory testimonies about dance, disease, and revolution are commented on. Combining performative and multimedia elements, reality and fiction, archive documents, and contemporary testimonies, the show takes place in a relaxed setting, open to debate and discussion.

The process of realizing the project becomes a subject in itself, inseparably related to the personal experience of its creators.

The show is a co-production of Tangaj Collective, Forecast, and CNDB – The National Centre for Dance in Bucharest, produced following the selection of artist Simona Deaconescu as Forecast Mentee, mentored by French choreographer Mathilde Monnier and her nomination as Associate Artist of CNDB in 2022.

The show benefited from an artistic residency at PACT Zollverein (Essen, DE) and a work-stay residency in Antananarivo, organized by Forecast in collaboration with the French Institute in Madagascar and the Goethe-Zentrum Madagascar.

Ramanenjana has its international premiere at Radialsystem, in Berlin, on April 9, during the Forecast Festival, and its national premiere in Romania, at CNDB on April 14 and 15.

Ramanenjana will be showcased in August in Durban (South Africa) and Maputo (Mozambique) as part of the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience selection and in September and October in Antananarivo, Majunga, and Diego Suarez (Madagascar), as part of the I’TROTA International Dance Festival selection.

Special mentions

Tickets for professionals (dancers, choreographers) can be purchased only on the evening of the event at the box office. The price of these tickets is 20 lei, within the limit of 20 available seats.