Back to Kidal

How can we tell part of the modern history of African peoples through the blues?

Back to Kidal is a performance that brings together theatre, music, dance, and video to explore the story of the blues. Rooted in the traditional songs of the Manding, Fulani, and Yoruba peoples, the blues emerges here as a universal language of modern Africa: the voice of those who have weathered history’s storms, a testament to the dignity of African peoples and, through them, of all communities that have resisted erasure.

Through powerful imagery, live performance, and music, Back to Kidal traces connections between memory, resilience, and cultural transmission. It reveals the blues not only as a musical form, but as a living archive of struggle, survival, and hope.

About Serge Aimé Coulibaly and Faso Danse Théâtre

Serge Aimé Coulibaly (1972, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso) has been working internationally since 2002. He creates powerful contemporary choreographies rooted in African cultures and driven by emotion, reflection, and social engagement. His work is characterised by physical intensity, precise composition, and a universal expressive force.

In 2002, he founded Faso Danse Théâtre, a company in which dance serves as a form of civic and artistic engagement. Its productions explore the tensions between the individual and the collective, and between personal expression and responsibility. Drawing on a methodology based on duality—action and reaction, energy and counterforce—Coulibaly develops an urgent and intuitive visual language.

His acclaimed works, including Wakatt (2020) and C la vie (2023), have toured internationally. In 2025, he collaborated with director Ivo van Hove and created a participatory project in Molenbeek.

In 2012, he founded ANKATA, an international laboratory in Burkina Faso dedicated to artistic research, training, and exchange. The initiative is driven by a commitment to fostering a more humane and connected future.