THE DANCE OF THE WODAABE

Film directed by Sandrine Loncke, France, 2010, 90'

introduced by the film director

At the heart of the Nigerian Sahel, thousands of Fulani Wodaabe nomads come together each year for a vast ceremonial gathering: the daddo. For seven days and seven nights, following the sun's cycle, two adverse lineages confront each other in turn as part of their role in the geerewol dance, with only a litany of polyphonous choirs for accompaniment. At the end of each dance, the women from the adversary party come forward to designate the most beautiful representative in the opposing group.

The result of ten years of research, the film immerses us in this ritual that celebrates beauty. By listening to the protagonists, the film reveals the meaning, as well as the cultural and social importance, that this gathering has for these nomadic clans who are normally spread so far apart. All the while the ecological crisis that ravages the Sahel looms in the background and we see how it makes the organisation of such gatherings problematic.