We are about twenty days away from the start of the 20e edition of National Culture Week (SNC). The artists in competition multiply the rehearsals to be at the top of their level. This is the case of the traditional dance troupe of the Association Réveil Art et Culture (ARAC) that we met on April 5, 2023.
The traditional dance troupe of the Association Réveil Art et Culture (ARAC) is a group that promotes bôbô mandarè dance and music and had its receipt in 2018, but has really existed since 2006. Since then, it takes part in several competitions including the final stages of the SNC. For this 20e edition, she will still be there, in the traditional dance category, adult pool. So, the troop started training a few weeks ago to be competitive, because it didn’t come to do extras. His ambition is to win the first prize, according to the president of the association, Sibiri Hyacinthe Sanou.
Rehearsals to be competitive
It is around 6 p.m. when we arrive at sector 15 of Bobo, Ouezzinville district. This is where a residential courtyard serves as a rehearsal space for the ARAC troupe. The members, bit by bit, are arriving. The rehearsal session begins shortly. The instrumentalists are the first on the scene. They tune the equipment while waiting for the dancers to position themselves. A few minutes later, everything is ready, training can begin. The sound of the tom-toms resounds and it is the starting signal. The dancers harmonize their steps, the instrumentalists synchronize the melody, all this in a bôbô mandarè rhythm, the troupe’s specialty. The combination gives a sight pleasant to see, appreciated by the curious gathered in front of the concession, attracted by the sound of the tam-tams. For more than an hour, the troupe will refine its staging again and again. And so it is three times a week. Hyacinthe Sanou confides that it is at the same time the Regional Weeks of Culture (SRC) 2023 that the troupe is preparing. These are the preselection phases of the groups in the cultural region of Bobo to take part in the next edition of the SNC. The rehearsals are going well and in a good atmosphere, according to the president of ARAC. He adds that having a love of art and culture makes it easier on this level.
Sponsors for ARAC, wish of its president
The Association Réveil Art et Culture is facing a budgetary problem, regrets Hyacinthe Sanou, “but we manage to maintain ourselves because we love what we dohe says. If the association had sponsors, it would be much better. Because currently,it’s a courtyard for residential use that serves as a rehearsal place, because we don’t have a seat”, he laments. The members of the ARAC launch an appeal to the authorities and to any good will that can help them to have a center, to do so. Once acquired, this center could serve as a framework for providing music and dance lessons, according to them. Note that this is not the troupe’s first participation in the final phase of National Culture Week. She participated in 2016, an edition in which she was disqualified because she exceeded the time allowed for the performance. In 2018 it is back in force. She wins this time the first prize in her category. In 2019, during the SRC, she was ranked first. Sibiri Hyacinthe Sanou and his comrades maintain that everything is done at their level to repeat the feat of the SNC 2018.
Abdoul-Karim Etienne SANON
