Looping the loop (installation)

From African Dance to American Hop Hop and Back Again

Video Installation (2009)
Le Fresnoy

In Looping the Loop Dinozord, a young Hip Hop dancer from Kinshasa (DR Congo) traces the roots of this trans-historical and trans-national dance form, looking to traditional African dance as well as to forms of entertainment dance from Broadway and Hollywood to MTV.

Presented as an installation, the life-size video projection is displayed next to a still image taken by Congolese filmmaker Petna Katondolo, who’s reportages on life in Goma (East DRC) for Metropolis TV (NL), are a source of inspiration for this project. The image and the ambient sound that accompany it, come from footage the filmmaker shot during a 10 day long festival he organized in October 2008. Simultaneous with a regional conflict backed by international players over the area’s natural resources, the festival culminated in a dance competition that was attended by thousands of local spectators as well as refugees displaced by the war.

In collaboration with: Dinozord & Petna Ndaliko Katondolo / Concept: Ula Sickle / Sound concept & design: Yann Leguay / Camera: Vincent Pinckaers / Camera Assistant & Electrician: Sylvain Briant / Editing: Petna Ndaliko Katondolo & Ula Sickle / Additional image & sound track (2nd screen) Petna Ndaliko Katondolo (Alkebu, Goma) / Production: Le Fresnoy