CHILDWOOD INITIATION TRADITION 

WHY DO I DANCE?

I Dance for love, I Dance to exist, I Dance to live.
I Dance because I am liquid, solid and gas.
I Dance because I am the universe, because I am life and alive.
I Dance because the universe Dances, because the earth Dances, because the stars and the galaxies Dance.
I Dance because it’s beautiful to Dance,
because it’s beautiful to see that it feels good to Dance.

I Dance to dare to reinvent now and immediately.
I Dance to dare to dream and reinvent tomorrow.
I Dance to dare to reinvent an oxygenated and livable world.
To dare to reinvent, the girl, the boy, the woman, the man of tomorrow.
I Dance to dare to reinvent the future of our daughters, our boys, our sisters, our broth- ers, our wives and husbands, our mothers, our fathers, our lovers and beloved ones.
I Dance to dare to reinvent the human, the human with its humanism.
I Dance to be free, I Dance so as not to die of anguish, of rage, so as not to commit the irreparable.

I Dance to dare to reinvent self-respect through respect for others.
I Dance to dare to reinvent life and nurture it.
I Dance to dare to reinvent hope, dreams, equality, democracy.
I Dance to dare to reinvent our democracy, ours, taking into account our intrinsic values. I Dance to dare to reinvent the dignity, the value of the word given.

I Dance to dare to reinvent the artist, his role and his place.
I Dance to dare to reinvent Dance, music, song, to dare reinvent humanism in the world, to dare reinvent the joy of living.
I Dance to heal my soul and other souls.
I Dance so as not to be lost.
We are made of solid, liquid and gas.

I Dance so that my soul, my body and my universe become one, in order to seduce something or someone. In order to connect with someone, with something.
I Dance to dare to reinvent love - love and care
Let’s Dance and dare to reinvent ourselves.

CHILDHOOD INITIATION TRADITION

As we say in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, I drank art in mother’s breast milk and ate art from my father’s dish.
Art is heritage for me.
A sharing that makes you even richer when you share it.

I am Aguibou Bougobali SANOU, I am a blacksmith on my father’s side.Blacksmiths are masters of iron and fire and the guarantors of peace andstability in Mandingo society.

I am the grandson of Djali griots on my mother’s side, the griots are the living libraries in Mandingo society, they are the guarantors of oral tra- dition, they are storytellers, historians, artists, facilitators, mediators.

I was born into a very large family of artists.
In a family where dance and music are part of everyday life.

My studies in communications, administration and IT could not prevent this legacy from resurfacing and taking over.

My mom always told me: “if you love your job, if you do it with love andpassion, you don’t work anymore, you make yourself happy and your pleasure earns you money.”

I am honored today to make a living from my passion, to share my passion and to plant seeds of hope and to provoke a bit of smiles.