"We don't dance for nothing! Delavallet Bidiefono's committed career
Published on 5 February 2026
A Congolese dancer and choreographer, Delavallet Bidiefono runs the Baninga company and the Baning'art space in Brazzaville, and is behind the Boya Kobina festival, which celebrated its 11th edition in October 2025. In this interview, he talks about the construction of his artistic career, between creation, transmission and social commitment, as well as the role of the Accès Culture program, implemented by the French Institute and financed by the AFD, in the development of his projects and local collaborations.
You're a choreographer, company director, founder of a cultural space and a festival. How have these different activities been built up and articulated over the years?
For me, these different activities form a coherent whole, which has been built up very naturally, step by step. I first created my own contemporary dance company, Compagnie Baninga, driven by the need for a place to rehearse and work. At the time, in the Congo, my space was the only independent venue entirely dedicated to contemporary dance, which involved a long process of reflection, training and support for the dancers.
Transmission has always been at the heart of my commitment: training young artists, integrating them into the company, offering them a framework in which to work. It was with this in mind that I created the Boya Kobina festival, with the aim of highlighting the talent and creativity of Congolese dancers. Conceived as a space for celebration and gathering, the festival is an invitation to come together to celebrate dance and, through it, life. Indeed, Boya Kobina means "come and dance", a phrase that sums up the spirit of my entire career.
Transmission has always been at the heart of my commitment.
With the Baninga company and the Baning'art space, you have created a unique space in Brazzaville for creation, training and encounters. What vision of artistic sharing guides this project?
The Baninga and Baning'art project is above all guided by a desire to transmit and share. I've always wanted to pass on my experience and share dance with young dancers. The creation of this space was a response to a very real urgency: there was no space dedicated to contemporary dance, even though I was already training dancers and running a company. Baning'art was built collectively, stone by stone, with the dancers I was training. I chose to locate it in a suburb of Brazzaville, in Kombé, an area marked by war and reconstruction. Setting up a creative space in this area was a powerful gesture: to bring contemporary dance into a neighborhood where it was unknown, or even viewed with suspicion.
At first, we had to convince the residents, parents and institutions, in a context where contemporary dance was sometimes equated with a form of cultural domination. I insisted on defending another vision: that of dance as a space for thought, capable of transforming people's outlooks and contributing to social change. Very quickly, the venue opened up to local youth, street children and people emerging from the war. Baning'art thus became a space for creation, training and reception, but also a social place, open to all, born of this collective energy and desire to offer alternatives through art.
The Accès Culture program, implemented by the Institut français and financed by AFD, has supported some of your initiatives. How has this program contributed to the development of your projects and the structuring of the local cultural network?
The Accès Culture program has played a decisive role in the development of my projects. First of all, I'd like to emphasize the importance of the support from AFD and the Institut français, who believed in an ambitious and atypical project, Terre Kombe Danse, which I've been running in tandem with Les Bancs Publics since 2020. This program has enabled me to develop activities throughout the year, aimed at dancers in training in Brazzaville, but also in an inclusive approach, open to the residents of the Kombé neighborhood. The main challenge was to create links in an area where contemporary dance was totally unknown. Thanks to Accès Culture, we were able to reach out to local residents, engage in dialogue with families, neighborhood leaders and teachers, and overcome initial fears linked to cultural misunderstandings and the country's recent history.
The scheme has also strengthened the structuring of the local cultural network, notably through the Boya Kobina festival. By welcoming companies and choreographers from different African countries, the festival has opened people's eyes, shown that these practices are part of an international dynamic, and offered audiences and dancers alike a plurality of aesthetics, gestures and thoughts. Today, this openness is reflected in a strong appropriation of the works by the people of Kombé, sometimes even more committed than audiences at downtown venues.
Boya Kobina has become a transmission tool, both artistic and social, for young dancers and residents of the Kombé district alike.
You also head up the Boya Kobina festival, which celebrated its 11th edition in 2025. What place does this event occupy in the Congolese cultural landscape and in the dialogue between African and international artists?
The Boya Kobina festival was born of a simple dream: to create an annual gathering time around dance, a space for celebration and encounter open to Congolese, African and international artists. From the outset, the challenge has been to create a dialogue between aesthetics, backgrounds and generations, and to enable emerging artists to find a place and visibility, as I myself have been able to benefit from thanks to encounters made, notably at the Institut français de Brazzaville.
What I transmit today through the festival is directly linked to my own journey, with the shows I've seen, the choreographers I've met and the opportunities I've been offered. Boya Kobina has become a tool of transmission, both artistic and social, for young dancers and the inhabitants of the Kombé district.
After eleven editions, the festival occupies a strong place in the Congolese cultural landscape. It has expanded, become itinerant, and travelled to several Congolese towns: Pointe-Noire, Dolisie and Nkayi. Thanks to the support of the Institut français and the AFD, the number of shows and spectators has increased, and the festival's local roots have been strengthened. Today, the festival is fully embraced by residents, neighborhood leaders and local authorities, who see it as their rendezvous. This enthusiasm is also generating economic and social momentum, and is now nurturing the ambition to see national institutions become more involved to support its development and enable it to dream even bigger.
Your links with the Institut français du Congo go back a long way. How did this collaboration develop, and what does this circulation between artists, institutions and territories represent for you?
My links with the Institut français du Congo are long-standing and decisive in my career. The Institut français has always played a major role in the development of artistic careers in the Congo, and mine is no exception. In the early 2000s, I took part in the choreographic research workshops initiated by Christian Burgué, which were essential for deepening my practice and fully discovering contemporary dance, even though I came from a musical background. It was also thanks to the Institut Français that I was able to meet many choreographers and dancers, and that I was selected in 2006 for Danse l'Afrique danse in Tunis, a pivotal moment that marked my entry onto the international scene. This circulation between artists, institutions and territories has profoundly structured my career.
Today, this collaboration continues in other forms, notably through the support of the Institut français du Congo for my Boya Kobina festival, but also thanks to the links maintained with other branches, such as the Institut français de Pointe-Noire. This continuity is essential: it enables us to sustain projects, strengthen networks and support the dancers we train. For me, the Institut français remains a key partner, both historic and always fully committed to the present.
Dance is a space where we learn to believe in ourselves, to persevere, and to make art a tool for individual and collective construction.
Finally, what is your vision today of the role of dance in Central Africa, between social commitment, artistic freedom and transmission to younger generations?
For me, dance in Central Africa is above all an act of commitment. I love a phrase by my friend Dieudonné Niangouna, who says that to make art in Africa, you have to know how to "box the situation". This image sums up the reality: creating here requires resilience, passion and deep faith in what you do, because artistic commitment is not always understood or valued socially.
Dance is never free. It is born in contexts marked by incomprehension, sometimes by mistrust, and it carries with it a responsibility: that of resisting, questioning and transforming outlooks. When we started out, contemporary dance was perceived as foreign, even illegitimate, and many gave up. Those who continued did so out of conviction.
Today, the younger generations benefit from a slightly more open field. That's why transmission is essential: passing on the desire, the stamina, the freedom to create. Dance is a space where we learn to believe in ourselves, to persevere, and to make art a tool for individual and collective construction.
To conclude, I'm used to saying: We don't dance for nothing!
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