Since 2006
The company
A professional contemporary hip-hop dance company, born in Sarcelles, directed by the choreographer Didier Mayemba.
The project
A company born of its own training programmes
In 2006 Didier Mayemba founded his own professional contemporary hip-hop dance company, to which he gave his name. Paying the closest attention to the teaching of dance technique, he took charge of the development of several amateur training programmes.
The company is made up of young dancers who came through those programmes. That particular choice called for patience and commitment; today it is bearing fruit, in the evident cohesion and harmony among the dancers.
Its role is to uphold the values of popular education: the passing on of knowledge, integration, citizenship, secularism, access to education, to culture and to leisure. To that end it works in the cultural, social, intergenerational and intercultural fields. This means that it does not do social work, but uses culture as a means of social integration.
It aims to reduce social and cultural divides, to restore equality of opportunity, and to give local people — young people and adults alike — the chance to become aware of their abilities, to develop their personality and to prepare to become active citizens.
Activities
Create, pass on, bring together
- Choreographic worksSix pieces in the repertoire, from group work to duet, toured in France and abroad.
- Creation coursesCourses in contemporary creation, open to dancers in training as well as to experienced performers.
- Regular classesClasses given in venues in Sarcelles and the surrounding area.
- Workshops in schoolsChoreographic workshops and educational projects, in arts and cultural education.
- Event organisationBattles, festivals and choreographic gatherings, in Sarcelles as in Sweden.
- International exchangesChoreographic exchanges with Copenhagen and Linköping, devised and run with local partners.
The choreographer
Didier Mayemba
Born in Kinshasa, in Congo, he is the eldest of a family with a passion for dance and music. At 19 he entered the best hip-hop dance school in the world: the street.
Encountered on his travels to Cuba, Afro-Cuban dance would never leave him. A member of the groups Extrême Limite and Force 7, he pursued his research at the heart of the hip-hop world. At the same time he placed himself at the service of dance and of the demands of other choreographers. Five of them were to mark him in particular.
Five decisive encounters
What each of them passed on to him
- Anne-Marie ReynaudHer thinking on choreographic writing and her relationship to contemporary dance.
- Norma ClaireThe importance of the foundations of African dance, the roots of hip-hop technique.
- Christine CoudunOf the company Black Blanc Beur: her vision of freedom of gesture and of respect for the dancer, and her sense of what a company is.
- Françoise DupuyThe fundamental notions of the body’s rhythm: force, time and space, which govern a body in movement and found its rhythm.
- Karine SaportaThe parameters of choreographic composition, choreographic knowledge and the choreographer’s scientific spirit — that spirit of research which prompts one always to look beyond the material.
Training
From the Centre national de la danse to the university
Holder of the university diploma “Le chorégraphe, un métier” from the UFR STAPS of the Université de Caen Normandie, at the Centre national de la danse in Pantin he travelled the paths of classical, jazz and contemporary dance.
Since 2005 he has followed teacher training in contemporary dance and in the functional analysis of the body in dance movement. There he has developed elements of a reflection on the passing on of a bodily and artistic technique with Marina Rocco, Nathalie Schulmann, Martin Kravitz, Silvia Baggio and Brigitte Hyon.
Offices held
- UnionCo-president of Chorégraphes Associé·e·s, the choreographers’ union.
- AfdasVice-president of the music and choreography commission.
- ON2HCoordinator of the hubs at the Organisation nationale du hip-hop.
The concept
Mayembism
Through the concept of mayembism I want to defend an artistic and choreographic reflection based on my own artistic and human view of the world around me, on which I feed daily. Didier Mayemba
Unlike the majority of contemporary choreographic artists, who try to adapt their creations solely to what others — the audience in particular — expect, he insists on defending an act of creation arising from a deep connection to his emotions. A concept that has become rare in an artistic world where the wish to please as many people as possible has prevailed over deep connection to oneself.
That connection demands great freedom, detached from the gaze of others; it is indispensable to any act of creation, at least to any innovative one. To create with freedom demands laying oneself bare, and therefore a great risk on the artist’s part — the same risk that is needed to open the audience up to the work, rather than taking the easy path of adapting artificially to its supposed expectations.
The mayembism method aspires to the well-being of the creative spirit, and the secret of that well-being lies in a sincere expression of one’s voice, of one’s deepest self, authentic and proud of its reality. That sincerity is synonymous with freedom: in this way mayembism works towards a generation of free thinkers, dancers who dare to go beyond the limits of the boxes in which creation is confined.
The team
Who carries the company
- Didier MayembaAuthor and choreographer, founder and artistic director of the company.
- Elykia MayembaProduction manager for La Dame de Fer and the Afro Battle.
- François KalekaTechnical direction and lighting design.
The performers are cast piece by piece; the cast of each work appears on the repertoire page.
Book the company
Booking packs, technical specifications and availability on request.