Dance Review | A Spectacular Gravity-Defying Cirque Kalabanté at the Lobero

Santa Barbara Gets a Dazzlingly Daring Dance Performance Inspired by Guinean Village Life

Cirque Kalabante | Photo: David Bazemore

Daring acrobats, eye-popping contortionists, inspiring music, charming humor, and colorful scenes of Guinean village life — Yamoussa Bangoura and Cirque Kalabanté rocked the Lobero on February 6!

Imagine this: The stage and the theater are completely dark. The only sounds are those of night creatures cooing and chirping. Then two lanterns appear, moving from stage right toward the center of the stage, and the audience realizes there is a person moving those lanterns. Slowly, a dim spotlight shines on a supremely muscular figure, wearing a fine silk coat, and carrying a large, bejeweled stringed instrument.

“I am Yamoussa Bangoura, from Guinea, and this is my kora,” he explains to the audience, and he proceeds to play a hauntingly beautiful improvisation on his magnificent instrument.

“The kora used to be played only for kings and queens,” Bangoura explained in an interview. “The left thumb controls the bass, the right thumb controls the accompaniments, while the two index fingers play the improvisations.”

Kalabante acrobats | Photo: David Bazemore

After introducing himself, Bangoura disappears into the dark, as three pools of light illuminate three drummers. Their strong first beats make the dust fly as the sound of their drumming echoes through the theater!

The lights come up to reveal a fishing village. The villagers, portrayed by the dancers and acrobats of Cirque Kalabanté, are preparing for the day, throwing nets, calling out to each other, and preparing baskets of fish.

Bangoura (when he is not dancing or performing acrobatic tricks) sits with his kora, djembe, and other drums on a platform upstage. On the sides of the stage are two other platforms, initially covered with cloth. The cloth is removed to reveal the rest of the musicians: a western-style drummer with a giant drum on stage right, and a saxophonist and electric guitarist on stage left. The western instruments blend with the traditional instruments for a truly unique sound, at times pulsing and driving, and at times lyrical and magical.

The village scene gives way to spectacular acrobats and dancers. Throughout the show, after multiple, back-and-forth, high-in-the-air, gravity-defying tumbling passes and unbelievable balancing formations, the acrobats join in vigorous West African dances. One wonders how they have such infinite energy.

Kalabanté means “child go-getter, ambitious, with exceptional courage” in Sousou, one of the main languages spoken in West Africa. These artists are certainly full of energy and courage!

And so the show proceeded: Between the breathtaking balances and gravity-defying tumbling passes, the performers interspersed hauntingly beautiful musical interludes, energetic African dances, and charmingly humorous scenes of village life in Guinea.

Trailer of the Lobero Cirque Kalabante show | Video: Jatila van der Veen

In one of my favorite scenes, the performers came running from the wings onto a dark stage, casting long fishing lines with colored lights out into the audience. From a boat, fishermen cast a large net in which a big fish was caught. Suddenly, all the performers except the “fish” ran off stage, shouting, “Big fish!” The “fish” flipped and flopped himself out of the net to reveal the supremely talented contortionist Mohamed Ben Sylla, who performed a jaw-dropping solo, accompanied by the electric guitar. I have never seen anything like the way Ben Sylla bent his body in half backward, wrapped his feet around his head, and twisted his waist around 360 degrees! How does a human body do that?

In another of my favorite scenes, surprisingly sexy and humorous, the men came out in construction worker outfits, and proceeded to construct scaffolding out of boards and big drums to the slow and sultry accompaniment of the saxophone. As they climbed up onto the scaffolding, bumping and grinding their hips (to the delight of the audience), they climbed up on each other, forming astonishing human pyramids.

Yamoussa Bangoura, choreographer, founder, director, and lead performer of Cirque Kalabanté, is a multidisciplinary artist from Guinea, who has an extensive career as an acrobat, dancer, and musician. Having performed in numerous companies, including Guinea’s Circus Baobab, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Cavalia (with horses!), and Canada’s Cirque Eloize, Bangoura formed his own company, Kalabanté Productions, in Montreal in 2007. Read his touching origin story here.

Opening drummers, Cirque Kalabante | Credit: Jatila van der Veen

Bangoura describes himself as a dreamer from an early age. He is the fourth of seven children from an artistic but poor family in Gbessia Centre, in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. His family valued education, and he was usually first in his class. One day, while in primary school, he met a dance and percussion troupe, led by a master who was both an artist and a soldier, combining creativity and discipline in the way in which he taught students. The connection with his teacher led Bangoura to land a role in the film The Legend of the Drumming Monkey. From this role, he was invited to join Circus Baobab and tour throughout Guinea and Europe. After spending six months in Barcelona, Bangoura was recruited by Cirque Eloize in Quebec, where he spent the next six years working with that company, as well as collaborating with Cirque du Soleil and almost all the circuses from around Quebec.

During his sojourn with the circus troupes of Quebec, Bangoura got the idea to start his own company, showcasing Guinean artists and bringing funding to the next generation in his home country. He became good friends with Guillaume Saladin, founder of ArtCirq, who had a similar idea to start a circus company in the north of Canada where he grew up, and where there is also a great deal of poverty. Together Bangoura and Saladin collaborated on the documentary Circus Without Borders, highlighting the power of acrobatics, music, and camaraderie in bringing meaning and hope to youth in their cultures. It would be highly worthwhile for UCSB Arts & Lectures to bring the full-length film to Santa Barbara!

Kalabante acrobats and dancers portraying merchants | Credit: Jatila van der Veen

The motto of Cirque Kalabanté on their website is “If you can talk, you can sing; if you can walk, you can dance.” You might not believe this if you only see their show (what, me do that?), but if you read Bangoura’s story, how he trained as an acrobat from a young age, and now trains kids all over the world, you will believe it.

This review has barely scratched the surface of the gravity-defying, charming, musically interesting, colorful, and humorous show by Cirque Kalabanté. Director, choreographer, and show lead Yamoussa Bangoura and his troupe brought the sold-out house to its feet! If you missed this show, you can follow Cirque Kalabanté on their website, and catch their next show in Southern California on Sunday, February 16, at 6 p.m. at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State Los Angeles. Click here for more details.

A huge thank you to UCSB Arts & Lectures for bringing these mind-blowing performers, who are also educators and philanthropists, to Santa Barbara. I hope they will return, and stay longer next time.

Acrobatic construction scene, Cirque Kalabanté | Photo: Jatila van der Veen
Contortionist Mohamed Ben Sylla | Photo: Cirque Kalabante
Kalabante acrobats | Photo: David Bazemore
Kalabante acrobats | Photo: David Bazemore