Ecole des Sables

L’ÉCOLE DES SABLES - Local Development of the Arts Sector

Country: Senegal

Project initiated in: 1996

Presented by: European Commission

Partners: Bilateral cooperation between Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Arts International (USA). More than twenty other partners from the public and private sectors have participated in coordinating this project.

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// Context

The Ecole des Sables, the International Centre of Traditional and Contemporary African Dances, is a venue for training, research, meetings and exchanges in the area of contemporary dance. Located in Toubab Dialaw, a small fishing village just 50 km to the south of Dakar, for twelve years it has hosted placements, artistic residences, creations and shows, with dancers from Africa and across the globe.

The school has two large dance halls, a conference room and 24 bungalows, constructed in an environmentally friendly manner and in line with the constraints of the local climate.

As a discipline which was largely underrepresented in Africa just two decades ago, contemporary dance is today a much recognised form of artistic expression on the continent.

// Project objectives

Activities undertaken at the Ecole des Sables aim at developing traditional and contemporary African dances, which are considered to be major factors in the cultural, social and economic development of the continent.

The objective of the Ecole des Sables is to:

• Offer professional training to African dancers.
•  Stimulate the development of contemporary African dance.
•  Represent a venue for training, meeting and exchanges for the profession.
•  Stimulate the creation of events resulting from the fusion between traditional and contemporary dance, in addition to other forms of artistic creation.

The project additionally aims at promoting dance education at school, as a basic training for life, cultural respect and as a means of artistic expression.

// Action and impact

The Ecole des Sables has provided an essential contribution to the development of the “contemporary dance” sector in Africa, which is today a major form of artistic expression on the continent and a sector of activity in its own right:

More than 240 dancers originating from 26 countries have been able to benefit from high-level technical training, provided by internationally renowned African and western teachers. The vast majority of these teachers are professional dancers.

Over ten dance companies and studios have been established on African soil; festivals and several tens of events and choreographies have been produced by dancers having benefited from training within the centre.

Partnership projects led with universities, schools and dance centres at international level demonstrate the desire to exchange and provide mutual support in a professional context.

Beyond its activities in the dance sector, the school is an important source of economic, social and human development at a local level:

•  Frequent participation by the local population in artistic activities and events held at the centre.
•  A direct and indirect source of employment for the local population, with around fifty or so jobs having been created.
•  Establishment of a dance programme intended for primary schools in the surrounding areas.
•  Involvement of the local population in social interest and environmental protection projects. An environmental protection association has been established in this perspective by villagers.

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