Coup Fatal

The celebrated and highly eclectic les ballets C de la B company remains true to its motto once again: “This dance is for the world and the world is for everyone”.

This time, director Alain Platel from les ballets C de la B —well-known for his outspoken and highly politicized views on the performing arts— taking charge of the direction, joins forces with Fabrizio Cassol —assuming the role of musical director—, with the superb Congolese counter-tenor Serge Kakudji and with the Congolese guitarist Rodriguez Vangama as the musical leader. A musical celebration, a minor miracle, an outlandish opera with the look and feel of a concert of Congolese music, the performance combines dance with theater and awe-inspiring musicians.

Like all the company’s productions, “Coup Fatal” is profoundly political, confronting the audience with an Africa of which it can know little. The emotive arias of the virtuoso Congolese counter-tenor Serge Kakudji, the inspiration behind the production, share the stage with the astonishing African rhythms of the band of musicians from his homeland and —as if by magic— the baroque music has been transformed into something quite unprecedented; something utterly new. The delicate transitions from the Congolese rumba to the baroque prelude shed an entirely new light on Bach, Handel and Vivaldi’s music, its qualities, harmonies, rhythms and —above all— emotions.

Tears alternate with impassioned ‘yeah-yeahs’ in this unique celebration in honor of all the black children who so desperately want to live despite the men who cling so stubbornly to the miseries of war. The curtain looks as though it’s made of chains, but they’re really empty casings from bullets fired in the war — the work of the visual artist Freddy Tsimba who lives and works in Kinshasa, where he makes large-scale sculptures out of the empty cartridges he collects in local war zones.

“Coup Fatal” is a production whose movement, music and emotions are all utterly unrestrained. The stage fills with an Africa, playful and celebratory, hurting but brimming over with humor and knowledge. The choreographic material and the costumes have turned to the elaborate dress code of the Kinshasa dandies for inspiration, revealing to us the elegance and the refinement of the young Congolese with a passion for cosmopolitan cool and genuine Dior.