Lena Blou: Performing the political

Lena Blou will share her dance practice by evoking the practical, aesthetic, historical, anthropological and philosophical dimensions of Gwoka, Techni’ka and Bigidi and discusses with our students what these concepts teach us about how to approach uncertainty, unpredictability, imbalances, in contemporary society.

"My aim during this residency is to verify the hypothesis according to which colonial and slave-trading history generated a way of moving the body that expresses a particular approach to the world."

Lēna Blou holds diplomas in jazz and contemporary dance, choreographic interpretation, and dance teaching. She founded the Center for Dance and Choreographic Studies (CEDC) in 1990 and the Compagnie Trilogie in 1995. She obtained a Masters in Caribbean Art and Cultural Promotion in 2015, and a PhD in 2021. In 2017, she founded Larel Bigidi’Art, a space for training, creation, and research. Since 2020, she has been developping her projects as part of Lafabri’k, a Laboratory of Dance and Expression through Movement. She was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 2008, and was made an Officer of the National Order of Merit in 2013.

The event is sponsored by the French Connexion center of excellence, and the Performing Arts Department, and the Villa Albertine Chicago.