PuSh Festival 2024: Ramanenjana

Tickets

Cost: $37.00
Find tickets: here

Tangaj Collective – Simona Deaconescu & Gaby Saranouffi (Romania/Madagascar/Germany)
Ramanenjana is a witty, captivating docufiction performance about a dance event that made history.

In Malagasy, Ramanenjana means something that makes you rigid but also makes you strong, but the dance was pathologized, labeled part of a “dance epidemic” by historians. In fact, the mass dance is rooted in a sacred ritual performed by thousands of people in reaction to Western and Christian influence.

In Madagascar in 1863, thousands of people danced in the capital city for weeks to drums, as if hallucinating. This intriguing show examines the conflicting accounts to demonstrate how colonialism may have spread misconceptions about the extraordinary movement and raises important questions about the role of dance in society.

Informed by years of research, Ramanenjana blends reality and speculation, archived documents and contemporary testimonies, physical gesture and ecstatic motion.

Artist Bio:
Simona Deaconescu is a Romanian choreographer and filmmaker working across genres and formats. Shifting between fiction and objective reality, her work investigates liminal corporealities by meticulously looking at social constructs, sometimes with irony and dark humor. She founded Tangaj Collective, an interdisciplinary art and science company, and serves as the artistic director of the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival.

Born in Tamatave, Gaby Saranouffi is a Malagasy choreographer and art activist currently residing in South Africa. She is one of the most influential female artists pioneering contemporary dance in Madagascar, serving as artistic director for the I’TROTA International Dance Festival and the Vahinala Dance Company. Saranouffi draws inspiration from Madagascar’s tumultuous history to cultivate a distinct aesthetic in her choreography.

Showtimes
January 19: 8:00
January 20: 8:00
January 21: 2:00
More info