Oral heritage reborn
into living tapestry

Djata : Conversations du Manden, a journey to the heart of the Mandinka epic

By Sophie Jama

September 27, 2025

Inspired by the Epic of Sundiata, a foundational thirteenth-century tale preserved by griots—poets, musicians, and custodians of memory—Djata : Conversations du Manden unfolded with the quiet force of ancestral voices brought to life. Aly Keita transformed this oral heritage into a living tapestry, where dance, music, and myth converged, creating an atmosphere that was both intimate and universal —a bridge between Guinea’s traditions and the contemporary stage.

Aly Keita—dancer, musician, acrobat, creator, and founder of the Kira Arts company—revealed himself as more than a performer. He was a conduit, balancing virtuosity with a deep sense of purpose. Ritual rhythms, soaring acrobatics, and moments of sober silence became threads of cultural dialogue, inviting spectators not merely to watch but to enter a shared space. What remained when the lights dimmed was not only the memory of aesthetic beauty but also the impression of having witnessed an initiation—an introduction to a mythic world rarely seen in Montreal, yet offered with generosity by an artist committed to making the invisible resonate.

Oral tradition, ritual dances and music, mythical storytelling—this is what inspires this artist from Guinea.

It is the story of two hunters bringing Sogolon, a woman bound to the unseen and marked by the spirit of the buffalo, to King Naré Maghan, to ensure the procreation of an heir. Their union gives birth to Sundiata Keita, a child who is born without the ability to walk. Long mocked and diminished, he one day rises and sets in motion the dawn of a kingdom destined to unite the peoples.

The stage is set with an installation that echoes Africa through its instruments, and with costumes that capture the splendour of tradition. A couple of dancers entered to the haunting call of a flute, whose melody seemed to carry a hidden story. The musician, perhaps a griot, remained in his long robe, while the dancers traded their brilliant traditional garments for contemporary ones.

Their movements, guided by flute and percussion, seemed carried beyond themselves; every part of their bodies responded to the urgent rhythm—from fingertips to shoulders, from arms to feet—until they resembled birds on the verge of flight. At one moment, the two lead dancers bent low to the ground, as if seeking something buried deep in the earth. They never uncovered it, perhaps only imagining shells, like those already woven into their vivid adornments—echoes of memory, fragments of a story still left untold.

Another set of dancers takes the stage: a woman who dances and sings to the rhythm of the music, and a man—surely the child—crawling on the ground, unable to rise. Little by little, as if seized by a trance, the dancer finds the strength to stand, then seems almost to take flight, lifted by powerful, controlled acrobatics. Toward the end of the performance, another dancer appears, clothed in foliage and draped in an African mask that evokes a being from beyond.

‘It is a highly codified ballet, with duets and coordinated quartets unfolding before our eyes.’

It is a ballet of precision and ritual, where duets and quartets unfold like woven patterns to the breath of flutes, the resonance of the kora, and the heartbeat of percussion, even the body itself becoming rhythm with sharp clicks of the tongue. Bathed in shifting light, the performance pulses with generosity, culminating in an invitation for the audience to join in the dance—a luminous, shared celebration, though one still longs for the full myth beneath it, a story whispered but never revealed.

A pity that the complete tale of the myth behind the ballet was not offered, whether in voice-over or projected surtitles. Such a thread would have allowed the audience to grasp the narrative dimension beneath the dazzling weave of music and dance, whose aesthetic beauty is undeniable, yet whose meaning remains mysterious and just out of reach.

Djata : Conversations du Manden

Artistic direction, choreography and original music: Aly Keita
Production direction: Raffaela Siniscalchi
Technical direction and lighting: Sharon Di Genova
Stylistic consulting and costumes: Raffaela Siniscalchi

Performers:
Fodé Bamba Camara (dance)
Krystina Dejean (dance)
Aly Keita (vocals and dance)
Komty (vocals and dance)
Lasso Sanou (live music, multi-instrumentalist)

Featured image: courtesy of Djata

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Sophie Jama holds a PhD in anthropology and a master’s degree in comparative literature. She has published several works in Québec and France. For the past fifteen years, she has covered Montreal’s cultural scene in theatre, dance, circus, and other performing arts.