Arts and cultural education
Outreach
The company does not do social work: it uses culture as a means of integration. Workshops, classes, training and international exchanges are its tools.
What is taught
Two inseparable strands
The teaching has two strands: learning the techniques of dance, but also the history and the spirit of the means of expression these teenagers have chosen to use. Didier Mayemba wants to remain close to this public and in touch with the young people of the neighbourhoods, who bring their energy and their present-day view, and constantly renew a hip-hop culture that is always on the move.
Dance is a privileged vehicle for awakening young adults to their physical potential and to the richness of their imagination. It allows them to grasp and to appreciate the value of the rules established for the good working of a group — or of a whole life.
Didier Mayemba draws on the fundamentals of hip-hop dance — break, lock, poppin, new style — for young beginners, and teaches the more advanced mayembism, his contemporary African technique.
Workshops and educational projects
A permanent bridge between neighbourhoods
The company is regularly asked to take part in events in Sarcelles and the surrounding area. Regular classes are given in venues across the town, and many schools have already experienced these activities.
They form a permanent bridge between neighbourhoods, social conditions, ages and the different cultures that make up the population. This shared interest strengthens the dialogue, at times so fragile, between school and life outside, between girls and boys.
At a time when wisdom points to the rise of communitarianism, this mixed culture must be a privileged vehicle for easing intercultural and intergenerational exchange. It must be a way of resisting the urge to shut oneself away on familiar ground: that of our differences, and of the difficulty of understanding and living them.
- Formats offered
- Choreographic workshops in schools · Educational projects · Regular classes · Contemporary creation courses · Talks and post-show discussions
- Participants
- Primary schools, secondary schools and sixth-form colleges · Community centres and social centres · Amateur groups · Dancers in professional training
- Areas
- Sarcelles and the Val-d’Oise · Linköping and Stockholm, Sweden
Training the trainers
Passing on to those who pass on
The institutions have developed a keen interest in hip-hop culture, through dance. As part of his remit, Didier Mayemba has had the opportunity to coordinate trainer-training sessions set up by the directions départementales de la Jeunesse et des Sports and by the ADDM, aimed at hip-hop practitioners.
He gave his first hip-hop dance classes in Sarcelles in 1994 and in Gauchy in 2002. He has been able to observe the evolution of hip-hop culture within society and the way it has been taken into account in urban and, of course, cultural policy. Its success with every kind of audience is undeniable: the first to be won over by the movement are now in their forties, and the youngest have completely taken these forms of expression on board.
There is no longer any need to show that this culture has served as a vehicle for integration and social advancement. It has allowed many to build themselves, to set up associations, to forge links with institutions, to find a rhythm and a healthy way of living, to respect their bodies and to spark artistic vocations. Didier Mayemba
International exchanges
Carrying hip-hop beyond borders
France — Linköping
With the association ASK
Compagnie Mayemba initiated a choreographic exchange between Sarcelles and Linköping, in Sweden, devoted to hip-hop culture. The project gave young dancers from Sarcelles the opportunity to travel to Linköping to meet Swedish dancers, discover new teaching and artistic approaches, share their techniques and their stories, and co-create an original piece. The experience strengthened their openness to the world, their confidence and their creativity, while building strong links between the two hip-hop scenes.
Objectives achieved: to promote French-Swedish cultural and artistic exchange; to enrich the technical, creative and stage skills of the dancers taking part; to devise a joint choreographic creation reflecting the diversity of shared influences and stories.
France — Copenhagen
With Flow Dance Academy
Compagnie Mayemba ran a choreographic exchange between Sarcelles and Copenhagen, devoted to hip-hop culture. The project enabled young dancers from Sarcelles to travel to Copenhagen to meet their Danish counterparts, share their techniques and their stories, and create an original piece together. An immersion in the richness of Danish hip-hop culture, fostering intercultural openness and the creativity of those taking part.
Objectives achieved: to encourage cultural and artistic exchange; to develop the technical and creative skills of young dancers; to create a joint choreographic work, the fruit of this exchange.
This project is only a beginning. Through these exchanges we go on forging links, growing together and carrying hip-hop culture beyond borders. Together, we move forward. The company
Professional gatherings
The choreographer in public life
- Avignon 2019“Choreographers and politicians, is a meeting possible?” — a debate held on 19 July at the ISTS, Cloître Saint-Louis, with Héla Fattoumi, Nathalie Filser and Vincent Corbier, chaired by Emmanuel Serafini.
- La RochelleA gathering of the region’s choreographers and dancers, organised by Chorégraphes Associé·e·s and hosted by the CCN de La Rochelle.
- Metz“Une histoire de vague”, work in progress presented on 13 February 2020 at the École supérieure d’art de Lorraine.
- CairoThe Egyptian press devotes an article to “Nuits d’automne”.
Setting up a project with the company
Workshop, residency in a school, international exchange: write to us to discuss it.