In her work, choreographer and storyteller Lua Shayenne frequently advocates for ecological stewardship, social equity, and spiritual growth. This year, she has premiered the striking Frontiers | Frontières and Water Spirit, whose focus is migration. And Shayenne will debut Yassama and the Beaded Calabash, her first choreography for young audiences, at JUNIOR Festival, which runs at Harbourfront Centre from May 18-20, 2024 over the Victoria Day weekend. Yassama and the Beaded Calabash channels her advocacy in a tale that takes place somewhere in a village in the distant past . . . but tells a universal story of how one girl and one tree are connected to the heartbeat of the world.
Born and raised in Ivory Coast by her Ghanaian mom and Italian father, Shayenne grew up with a mix of two lively and expressive cultures. Her father, who was also a writer, created an environment of storytelling by mobilizing a diverse array of African tales. Right after lunchtime, the children would go for “La Sieste”, an afternoon nap when the sun was hot. Before they fell asleep, they would listen to these stories: they were a way to go to imaginary worlds, but, more critically, a way to learn a lesson.
In 2024, Shayenne choreographed and premiered Frontiers | Frontières and Water Spirit at Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto. Performed by the Lua Shayenne Dance Company, Frontiers | Frontières speaks about the harrowing journey of immigrants leaving Africa – and it also speaks about the journey of immigrants from Mexico, and the journey of Africans who have gone to South America or the US and Canada. This was an important story for Shayenne to tell because, unlike many, when war broke out in Ivory Coast, she was privileged enough to leave with her parents and make a new life in Italy: “Migration is something we have done as humans for centuries, but we live in a world that is unjust. Where some people, mostly culturally diverse folks, are underprivileged and have a passport that does not allow them to live their dreams”. Frontiers | Frontières is about three such characters who want to live their dreams. Unfortunately due to their lack of means, they must traverse the desert and cross an ocean on a small boat. Will they find a new home . . . or not?
Water Spirit explores our connection to nature, and more specifically “Mami Wata”, the water goddess that Shayenne grew up with in Ivory Coast. In Water Spirit, a young boy ventures to the ocean and is abducted into the underwater world by Mami Wata. Mami Wata has been forgotten by the village folk: she forces them to come to her, so she can warn them that nature, the ocean, and the power of water must not be taken lightly. After all, her water is the sustenance of fishing villages near the coast and is necessary for their survival. “It was a real privilege for me to premiere these two pieces,” smiles Shayenne. “My intention is to continue developing them throughout 2024 and into 2025, to hopefully tour them”.
Yassama and the Beaded Calabash is a work that began long before the pandemic and has evolved substantially, through different iterations. Shayenne was excited to develop a work for children, and with Yassama, she was interested in once again speaking about water – especially in the context of Africa, with its droughts and flooding. The main characters in Yassama and the Beaded Calabash are the Baobab tree and the young girl, who works hard and goes out to fetch water for the village each day. Because of the growing lack of water, she has to walk further each time: first to the village well, then to the stream, and finally to the far-away river. She meets a Baobab tree along her journey, and when the tree gifts her a magic Calabash, things begin to change.
Integral to Shayenne’s creative process has been Fides Krucker, who brought dramaturgy and a fresh take to Yassama and the Beaded Calabash. The duo first worked together four years ago, and since then, have collaborated on several pieces, including Frontièrs | Frontieres and Water Spirit. This year, Krucker has come on board to remount Yassama and the Beaded Calabash as a director. “I’ve learned so much from working with her,” says Shayenne, “She’s helped me more deeply understand the role of voice, breath, and song in my own work, and ultimately to draw closer to my culture.”
Like those childhood stories during “La Sieste”, it was important for Shayenne to ground Yassama and the Beaded Calabash in a lesson which encapsulates the universality of the story. The villagers in the story are not a secluded group of specific people. Rather, they represent humanity as a whole… a humanity who are not stewarding resources, storing food and preparing for the future, but who are greedy and take more than they need.
Meanwhile, Yassama’s wisdom and warnings are ignored, simply because she is a child. “I think we are very dismissive of our younger society,” says Shayenne, “but ultimately the youth are the ones who are changing the world. They have a great capacity for compassion and innocence – and why are we not taking responsibility for the world we are leaving them?”. The first person to recognize Yassama’s diligence and perseverance is the Baobab tree. The Baobab represents what some may call god, divine energy, the universe, or Mother Earth. It says, “We need to respect Mother Earth, and to celebrate and honor her”. While the story is told in part through an ecological lens, for Shayenne, Yassama and the Beaded Calabash is at its core a human tale and a spiritual quest.
Delicate but sturdy threads of environmental awareness and courageous passion interweave all of Shayenne’s work: they use the beauty and passion of dance to remind us of our deep connection with the earth. Yassama and the Beaded Calabash is geared for children ages three to six, and the narrator honours those children as intelligent, capable and awake beings, inviting them to follow the story in their own way. “It’s the perfect age,” smiles Shayenne. “Imaginative play is so present and strong. It’s quite an interactive show, and I love their eagerness to just jump in. They are always ready. …They’re naturally present.” And everyone, whether young or old, is welcome to join them.
To reserve tickets to Yassama and the Beaded Calabash visit HarbourfrontCentre.com. For the full schedule of events at JUNIOR Festival, click here.
© Emilia Voudouris, SesayArts Magazine, 2024
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