LE CARGO (Faustin Linyekula) 2016 Fringe review 89

faustin-le-cargo

Faustin Linyekula is a storyteller. On Saturday, he wove history and narrative into movement while continuously referencing the informed body through placement and displacement of environments. These are moments forgotten by most, but Linyekula unfolds the importance of remembering those who have disappeared, of remembering who carried the space we inhabit before ourselves. LE CARGO connects the storyteller with the dancer, as Linyekula explores the impact of his work over time. He says he is not here to tell a story, to let the dead men rest peacefully while he dances, but through his own respectful embodiment these intrinsic social histories become threads of our own present and future.

“I am simply here to dance,” he states. Linyekula sits upon a stool holding a laptop and two books, questioning what place dance has in a person’s history. His fingers move from an energy charging in his body as he remembers his own past, remembering a place that is no longer there, transformed by missionaries and political change. He is taking himself back, back to the Congolese village of Obilo as a young boy, put to sleep before the real dancing began in the village. His body gains vibrations as he recites his monologue again and again. His charged, circular movements carry his agile body swiftly in clear paths, in and out of an illuminated circle, casting shadows reminiscent of that dancing he once knew. Linyekula ends with a slideshow of his last trip to Obilo and an impassioned display of movement through the ages.

[FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Boulevard] September 24, 2016, fringearts.com/le-cargo.

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