Zab Maboungou

Choreographer, performer, philosopher, and writer of Franco-Congolese origin, Zab Maboungou is the Artistic Director of Zab Maboungou/Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata, a contemporary dance company founded in 1987 and based in Montréal, dedicated to creation, research, and training. Her works, marked by deep introspection and a committed gesture, leave a powerful impression: vibrant soundscapes and articulated bodies interpenetrate in the sobriety and brilliance of a dance art “at the highest level, never seen before” (Deborah Meyers, *Vancouver Sun*).

Trained from an early age with traditional dance and music groups in Congo-Brazzaville during the fervor of the post-independence era, Zab Maboungou has continued to deepen her knowledge of African music and dance. As a performer, she joined various ensembles and traditional and “tradi-modern” ballets (from Central, West, and East Africa) and worked with masters of African dance such as Lucky Zébila and Babatunde Olatundji, all while developing a contemporary creative practice that explores movement’s intrinsic capacity to express “our situation in the world.”

Zab Maboungou also pursued studies in philosophy, a discipline she now teaches, which has enabled her to bring a distinctive theoretical dimension to her reflection on dance, the arts, and culture. She is the author of several articles on dance as well as the book *Heya Danse! Historique, poétique et didactique de la danse africaine* (2005). Her reputation as a lecturer and “public intellectual” makes her a sought-after presence wherever the worlds of “arts, knowledge, and people” intersect. She shares her comprehensive understanding of dance with cultural institutions and universities in Québec, Canada, and abroad. She notably inspired the Committee on African Studies at Harvard University, where she was a keynote guest at the conference *African Dance Diaspora: A Symposium on Embodied Knowledge*.

She has created more than twenty solos and group works in music and dance, demonstrating refined musical and rhythmic artistry along with a movement vocabulary that is rooted, vigorous, and pared down, with clear and multiple trajectories. Her dance technique, called **LOKETO**, is grounded in the rhythmic foundations of African dances and music and now stands as a model in the field.

A pioneer of dance in Canada, she has also contributed to the development of dance art in Africa. Among her distinctions, she received the 2013 Charles-Biddle Award and the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award from Black Theatre Workshop in 2014. Zab Maboungou/Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata received the 30th Grand Prix of the Conseil des arts de Montréal in dance for the presentation of *Mozongi* in February 2014, celebrating the company’s 25th anniversary at the SAT.