Directed by Jean Rouch • Documentary • 1965 • 28 minutes
As West African cities faced explosive growth in the 1960s, young people found themselves displaced, living in urban centers far from their families and home regions.
Enter the goumbés—youth associations combining networking, mutual aid, and a healthy dose of fun.
In this short film by Jean Rouch, we meet the Goumbé of Young Revelers, an Ivory Coast group whose bylaws include requirements for monthly parades, writing songs and coming up with new dance moves. The film deftly moves between club meetings and the daily lives of goumbé members—a longshoreman, a tailor, a clerk—providing a snapshot of life in Abidjan and culminating with a celebratory music and dance filled “meeting.”
Up Next in Dance
-
One Day Pina Asked (Chantal Akerman)
An encounter between two of the most remarkable women artists of the 20th century, ONE DAY PINA ASKED... is Chantal Akerman's look at the work of choreographer Pina Bausch and her Wuppertal, Germany-based dance company. "This film is more than a documentary on Pina Bausch," a narrator announces a...
-
If The Dancer Dances
Directed by Maia Wechsler • Documentary • 2018 • 177 minutes
IF THE DANCER DANCES invites viewers into the intimate world of the dance studio. Stephen Petronio, one of today’s leading dance-makers, is determined to help his dancers breathe new life into RainForest (1968), an iconic work by the l...
-
NY Export: Opus Jazz
Directed by Jody Lee Lipes & Henry Joost • Documentary • 2010 • 60 minutes
In 1958, Jerome Robbins’ “ballet in sneakers,” NY Export: Opus Jazz, became a smash hit when it was broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show and toured around the world. Set to an evocative jazz score by Robert Prince, the dance...
