• 1

• Performance + Dance
• Artist Talk
• Exile
• Identity
• The Past

• Di., 26.05.2026, 19:00

Artist Talk 'Somewhere at the Beginning' / Unexpected Lessons 1

Germaine Acogny, an icon of contemporary African dance and winner of the Golden Lion at the Biennale Danza, embarks on a tentative journey into the past with her moving solo “Somewhere at the Beginning”: to the origins and ancestors who accompany her like shadows and witnesses.

• 1© Thomas Dorn

Following the performance on May 26, there will be a discussion with Germaine Acogny, Patrick Acogny, and Mansour Ciss Kanakassy (artist, Dakar/Berlin), moderated by Prof. Dr. Mariama Diagne (dance scholar, LMU Munich) and Isabel Raabe (curator, Berlin). The artist talk will be conducted in English and French, with translation into English.

Aubout the Venue

Radialsystem Friedrichshain

Since 2006, large-scale performances have been transforming the entire building and its outdoor areas into a stage at the former pumping station on the Spree. Concert evenings surprise audiences in unusual settings, the studios invite visitors to experience installations—and the open deck in the evening sun hosts listening sessions with a view of the water. As a place of the arts and collective action, Radialsystem fosters dialogue between diverse cultural traditions and forms of knowledge. Through interdisciplinary formats, we develop, test, and present new forms of artistic expression that bridge dance, concert, and music installation. We translate body, time, and space into movement, sound, and encounter, where tradition meets innovation, experience meets idea, and art meets life. The path to the Radialsystem leads us to unknown realities, to sensory experiences—and allows us to discover new possibilities.

About the piece

Somewhere at the Beginning

Germaine Acogny’s body tells stories of departure and return, of leaving the African continent, of life in European exile, and of homecoming. The performance unfolds as a search for identity – never complete, always in a state of becoming. Under the intimate direction of the German-French director Mikaël Serre, a space is made for memory, in which the personal, the fragile and the unfinished is central.

The performance will celebrate its Berlin premiere in Radialsystem at the end of May, opening the series UNEXPECTED LESSONS – Knowledges of Body and Sound, which runs from May 2026 until February 2027. The performances will be supplemented by an accompanying programme over several days: alongside workshops, we will show the Berlin premiere of the documentary film “Germaine Acogny – The Essence of Dance” by Greta-Marie Becker. The film will be showing in German cinemas from 28 May 2026.

About the people

Germaine Acogny

Germaine Acogny is regarded worldwide as the “mother” of contemporary African dance. She dances, choreographs, and teaches all over the world and has become an influential ambassador for African dance. Together with her husband Helmut Vogt, she founded the École des Sables in 2004, the international center for traditional and contemporary African dance in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal. Between 1977 and 1982, she served as artistic director of MUDRA AFRIQUE (Dakar), founded by Maurice Béjart and the Senegalese president and poet Léopold Sédar Senghor. For her artistic work, dance icon Germaine Acogny has received numerous international awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Dance Biennale in 2021 for her life’s work