JOLIE NGEMI — NKISI

Jolie Ngemi on the meaning of the word ‘Nkisi’

Nkisi is a word in Lingala, my mother language, which has many meanings. It can mean ‘remedy’, ‘witchcraft’, ‘medicine’, designate a sacred fetish (statuette) ...

In Congo, Christian churches are omnipresent. The original animist beliefs persist, but their expression has become secret, hidden, almost cursed. The very subject of Nkisi, in Africa in general, remains taboo. No one dares to talk about it or express themselves on it under penalty of being beaten. The population is generally poor, so that any success is subject to doubt. It is said that the person who succeeds must have touched the Nkisi, i.e. touched witchcraft, had recourse to mystical spirits. People have therefore built up this belief: the key to success is to have recourse to the Nkisi. I myself, being sometimes an example of success in the Congo because of my career as a dancer in Europe, could have given rise to such judgments: I would be a witch who would have touched the Nkisi.

In the Congo, as in all of Africa, there is a strong presence of fraudulent or poorly prescribed medicines. This reinforces the cursed meaning of the word Nkisi: many people die of intoxication. But it is the healing and luck-bringing part of the Nkisi that really motivates the creation of this show: Nkisi as a remedy, a vaccine, a solution to life’s problems, against poverty as well as against disease ... Even better: my research focused on the women also called Nkisi. In the time of our ancestors before colonization, these valiant, strong women were hired by the kings to save the kingdom. The word Nkisi can therefore designate a magical force, the sacred object (e.g. statuette) that is its vector, but also a woman who has access to its power.

The Congolese kings, called Mfumu, used the services of these Nkisi women as magicians, mediators of occult forces to prevent misfortunes, epidemics, to perform magic rituals to save the country. As I found these stories in my research, I strongly identified with the bravery of these women.

I also realised that I was descended from the same tribe as these women Nkisi, from the Bagata and Kwilu regions of southern Congo. Having grown up in the capital Kinshasa, I never went there, but my father taught me the dialect of this region: Kimbala.

Jolie Ngemi on her inspiration for this performance

From a young age, my image of African women has always been that of strong women and housewives, but I confined them to that role. The discovery of female figures such as the Nkisi women, magicians, positive, determined and powerful, dazzled me. As secret advisors to kings, their activity was even of national importance! All this has enlightened my research: with Nkisi I would like to highlight all the strong women of the world, the creative women, researchers, artists, housewives ... On a personal level, the realisation of Nkisi is for me the opportunity to explore a blank page, to develop a personal work, which questions my roots and my career in Europe, but also a universal work, rich and complex at the same time, which questions the human being, its multiple statuses, spiritualism, in relation to the current events of today. A show that I aim to bewitch, based on the graspable and the elusive.

By bringing to light what was hidden in the shadows, Nkisi should plunge us into a bewitching ritual, divination and art, playing with mysteries and legends as well as questions of contemporary reality, almost like a fantasy film. What do these divinatory practices mean in the contemporary world? Who are the Nkisi women of today and with what worlds are they connected? How can we revive this depth of ritual today? A journey between science fiction and witchcraft. In their magical practices, the Mfumu kings communicated between tribes without moving, using a mirror in their thought transmission ritual. These ways of communicating remind me of our zoom conversations and digital means of communication: In the time of the Mfumu, this would have been categorized as magic, or it would not have been believed. The imaginary frontier between scientific progress and magic still seems very tenuous today: has the time come for Nkisi to transcend the cold mechanics of digital space?

All these universes should be present on stage. I envision the show as a kind of visual and physical vessel that will transport the audience into a world that is very different from the present and very complex. A world of powers worthy of super heroes and super heroines. This journey allows us to abandon ourselves completely, as in a waking dream. The symbiosis of the mental and the physical will be put to the test.

DANS DO 27 APR - 20:30

STUDIO MANHATTAN 55’

HET IS VERBODEN FOTO’S OF VIDEO’S TE MAKEN TIJDENS DE VOORSTELLING | TAKING PICTURES OR RECORDING VIDEO IS PROHIBITED DURING THE PERFORMANCE

CHOREOGRAFIE & PERFORMANCE

JOLIE NGEMI

DRAMATURGIE

JEREMY NEDD SCENOGRAFIE

LAURA KNÜSEL MUZIEK

IBAAKU, REJ DEPROC LICHTONTWERP & TECHNISCH DIRECTEUR

ALAIN CARON

PRODUCTIE, ADMINISTRATIE & VERSPREIDING

CAROLINE FROELICH (MOIN MOIN PRODUCTIONS) COPRODUCTIE

ARSENIC – CENTRE D’ART SCÉNIQUE CONTEMPORAIN, KASERNE BASEL, STUK - ARTS CENTER VZW, CHARLEROI-DANSE - CENTRE CHORÉGRAPHIQUE DE LA FÉDÉRATION WALLONIE-BRUXELLES, HAU HEBBEL AM UFER

MET DE STEUN VAN

VILLE DE LAUSANNE, LOTERIE ROMANDE, CANTON OF BASEL-LANDSCHAFT, FONDATION ERNST GÖHNER, PRO HELVETIA- SOUTIEN AUX VOYAGES DE RECHERCHE, POURCENT CULTUREL MIGROS, CORODIS