Pew Center for Arts and Heritage

Get our monthly newsletter in your inbox for the latest on cultural events, ideas, conversations, and grantmaking news in Philadelphia and beyond.

Main page contents
Faustin Linyekula's Philly Files. Photo by Jen Cleary.

Questions of Practice: Choreographer Faustin Linyekula on Theater and Civic Life

Questions of Practice: Choreographer Faustin Linyekula on Theater and Civic Life

Congolese choreographer and dancer Faustin Linyekula visited the Center in conjunction with the Painted Bride Art Center’s multi-part project, Re-PLACE-ing Philadelphia. In the video that follows, he speaks about how theater and performance can create “bridges” among audiences. “The work that we do in the studio, or in theaters, is like a lab for how we live as citizens,” Linyekula says.

Choreographer and dancer Faustin Linyekula on theater and civic life. Filmed at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage on April 8, 2016.

Linyekula presented Le Cargo, an intimate solo performance exploring the legacy of war, colonial heritage, and memory, at the 2016 Fringe Festival. Watch Linyekula on creating accessible art.>>

Congolese dancer Faustin Linyekula is a leading contemporary African choreographer. He is the founder of Studios Kabako, a dance and visual arts center in the Democratic Republic of Congo that provides dance training and performs Linyekula’s work in Africa and abroad. In 2016, Linyekula was in residence with the Painted Bride Arts Center and created a new dance work, Philly Files— examining North Philadelphia through movement, storytelling, community, and live music. Read more.>>