Interview with Smaïl Kanouté

Smaïl Kanouté, you are a dancer and the founder of the Yasuke Kurosan project, a choreographic piece highlighting African and Asian multiculturalism.

Francis Kurkdjian Endowment Fund: How did the idea of creating this choreographic piece come about? Why choose the story of an African slave who becomes a samurai as a subject for expression?

Smaïl Kanouté: "It came to me while watching a manga (Japanese cartoon) 14 years ago. It was "Afro Samurai", with Samuel L. Jackson's voice-over. I watched the film, then while researching on the Internet, I came across the story of this African samurai who existed in the 16th century. That story has always stayed with me. 4 or 5 years ago, during the "Year of Japan" in France, with all the exhibitions and events around Japanese culture, I got the urge to go to Japan. I thought it would be nice to create a project to motivate me. I thought back to the story of this African samurai and worked on it for a year. I went to Japan in 2019 to make a short dance film telling the story of this African samurai. I collaborated with local Japanese artists. When I got back to France, I edited the film to show it at several festivals. Then I wanted to create a unique performance. So I decided to create a choreographic piece based on the story of this samurai. The piece deals with the multicultural aspect of our lives. For me, it was important to reach out to people concerned by the subject, particularly people of mixed Afro-European or Afro-Asian heritage."

Francis Kurkdjian EF : How did you go about casting the dancers for this show? What were the selection criteria?

S.K: "Casting was done at random, as I usually do. In fact, I don't do formal auditions. I meet dancers in dance battles, on Instagram, via videos, at events or shows. For this project, I decided to collaborate with two dancers with whom I had already worked on a previous show, "Never Twenty One". One of the dancers is Cameroonian-French and the other is Guyanese with Indian origins. I asked them if they knew any Afro-Asian dancers. Thanks to them, I was able to contact Felicia Dotse, who is Chinese and Togolese, as well as Salomon Mpondo-Dicka, with whom I had already worked, a French-Cameroonian. Towards the end of the casting, they sent me the profile of a Chinese-Gabonese dancer called Aisi Zhou, also known as Joyce. When I saw her profile on Instagram, I noticed that she had done a solo with a bamboo stick. To me, this really represented the image of the samurai. I already had enough dancers for the project, but I contacted Aisi, who lives in Switzerland. She was very interested in the project. She found the idea of talking about Afro-Asian mestizos very relevant, and it was a first for her too. So, the casting was done by meeting people through different networks. "

Francis Kurkdjian EF : How was the show received on the African tour that took place in May 2024? Is there a difference with French audiences?

S.K: "African audiences are much more mixed. In Europe or France, audiences for contemporary dance performances are generally middle-class or elite, and predominantly white. Whereas in Africa, in every venue, it was really different. There were Europeans, Africans, locals, internationals, moms, dads, young people and children. The audience is very diverse, whether in Senegal, Gabon or Ethiopia.

In Gabon, for example, Joyce's family came to see her. There were Chinese, Gabonese, the Japanese ambassador, the Korean ambassador. It was the first time we'd had all these different populations in the room. It was really fantastic. Joyce was dancing in front of her family, which is made up of Chinese and Gabonese people who speak Mandarin, which made the moment even more special.

Audiences in Africa are much more lively and expressive. They react immediately when something touches them, applauding right from the start, in the middle and at the end. For African audiences, the fact that there was an African samurai, the only foreign samurai in Japanese history, is incredible, a source of pride and inspiration. It also tells the story of the exploration of African empires, which we don't talk about much. Every time, it's incredible. We did the show on stage, but before that, there was the "Walk" fashion show inspired by this story. We collaborated with local dancers, musicians and musicians, making each performance unique to each city."

Francis Kurkdjian EF : What's next for the project? After an African tour, is a tour of other regions planned?

S.K: "At the moment, we're thinking of organizing a tour of the United States, perhaps for 2025. We're working on it. At the same time, we're also trying to get back to France to program this piece. We've done a lot of international touring, and now we want to focus again on French and European territories to continue sharing this story. Given its growing popularity, I think the play will continue to tour France and the rest of the world. We're convinced that this work will generate even more interest, and that we'll be able to present it to an ever wider audience."

Find out more about the Yasuke Kurosan show here. Keep up to date with the project at www.fondsfranciskurkdjian.org