Skip to main content

No Space for Age A film by Sadler’s Wells Featuring Malou Airaudo & Germaine Acogny

No Space for Age

What is it like to be a professional dancer in your 70s?

Two icons of the dance world Malou Airaudo and Germaine Acogny share the stage in this fly on the wall documentary proving that dance has no age limit.

Against the picturesque backdrop of Spoleto, Italy, the film captures Malou and Germaine performing their duet in the final destination on an extensive international tour, alongside a company of 38 African dancers.

French-born Malou was a professional ballet dancer when she met Pina Bausch in New York in 1973. Bausch invited her to join Tanztheater Wuppertal, in Germany where Malou became one of the key figures of the ensemble. Considered as the Mother of Contemporary African dance, Germaine, was born in Benin, but grew up in Senegal where she founded an international dance school in Senegal, (the ECOLE DES SABLES) where they teach her famous ‘Acogny’ technique.

This is a film that celebrates their incredible legacy and the power of dance to transcend generations and cultures.

No Space for Age
Play Video

Play the film

Play Video
No Space for Age
Play Video

Play the film with audio description

Play Video
Credits

Featuring Germaine Acogny
Malou Airaudo
Clémentine Deluy
Anique Ayiboe
Serge Arthur Dodo
Vasco Pedro Mirine

Filmmaker / Director – Sarah Vaughan-Jones
Producer – Rosie Mackie
Additional footage by Dave Barros
The Rite of Spring footage – Florian Heinzen-Ziob & Enno Endlicher
Tour Producer – Aristea Charalampidou
Company Stage Manager – Marius Arnold-Clarke
Executive Producer – Bia Oliviera
Assistant Producers – Sheli Ali, Lorraine Camm
Malou’s Assistant / Interviewer – Joel Cottrell
Composer for common ground[s] – Fabrice Bouillon LaForest
Composer for The Rite of Spring – Igor Stravinsky
Lighting Technician – Jonny Downs
Translation – Verboo
Audio Description – Julia Grundy
Captions – Michael Peers
Additional Music – Artlist

Dancers in The Rite of Spring
Rodolphe Allui, Sahadatou Ami Touré, Anique Ayiboe, Korotimi Barro, D’Aquin Evrard Élisée Bekoin, Gloria Ugwarelojo Biachi, Khadija Cisse, Sonia Zandile Constable, Rokhaya Coulibaly, Inas Dasylva, Astou Diop, Serge Arthur Dodo, Franne Christie Dossou, Estelle Foli, Aoufice Junior Gouri, Luciény Kaabral, Zadi Landry Kipre, Bazoumana Kouyaté, Profit Lucky, Vuyo Mahashe, Babacar Mané, Vasco Pedro Mirine, Stéphanie Mwamba, Florent Nikiéma, Shelly Ohene-Nyako, Brian Otieno Oloo, Harivola Rakotondrasoa, Oliva Randrianasolo (Nanie), Asanda Ruda, Amy Collé Seck, Pacôme Landry Seka, Gueassa Eva Sibi, Carmelita Siwa, Amadou Lamine Sow, Didja Kady Tiemanta, Aziz Zoundi

Photos of Pina Bausch and Malou Airaudo by Ulli Weiss
Copyright: Pina Bausch Foundation

The Rite of Spring music courtesy of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited

For common ground[s]
Co-Choreographers and Dancers – Germaine Acogny, Malou Airaudo
Composer – Fabrice Bouillon LaForest
Costume Designer – Petra Leidner
Lighting Designer – Zeynep Kepekli
Dramaturg – Sophiatou Kossoko

For The Rite of Spring
Choreography – Pina Bausch
Music – Igor Stravinsky
Original Set and Costume Design – Rolf Borzik
Collaboration – Hans Pop
World Premiere 3 December 1975, Opera House Wuppertal

Restaging
Artistic Directors – Jo Ann Endicott, Jorge Puerta Armenta, Clémentine Deluy
Rehearsal Directors – Çağdaş Ermiş, Ditta Miranda Jasjfi, Barbara Kaufmann, Julie Shanahan, Kenji Takagi

With thanks to Tom Jules Sammie, Armel Gnago Sosso-Ny

Technical Team
Head of Production – Adam Carrée
Touring Production Manager – Imogen Clarke
Company Stage Manager – Marius Arnold-Clarke
Company Manager – Laye Kane
Head of Stage – Ben O’Grady
Sound Engineer – Dan Harmer
Wardrobe Manager – Anne-Marie Bigby
Production Electrician – Joe Pilling
Stage Swing Technician – Hex Emalia
Osteopath – Alexandra Haydon
Costume Maker – Petra Leidner
Costume Assistants – Mariola Kopczynski (Dakar), Silvia Franco (Wuppertal)

Producers

For Pina Bausch Foundation
Founder and Board of Directors – Salomon Bausch
Board of Directors – Simone Rust
Project Manager – Gertraud Johne
Education and Outreach – Kathrin Peters

For École des Sables
Founders – Germaine Acogny and Helmut Vogt
Manager – Helmut Vogt
Technical Production Manager – Didier Delgado
Production – Stan Mandef, Mame Bousso MBaye
Coordinator – Paul Sagne
Casting/adviser – Patrick Acogny
Accounting – Phillipe Bocandé
Communications – Eleine de Graça-Sccientia

For Sadler’s Wells London
Artistic Director & Chief Executive – Alistair Spalding CBE
Executive Producer – Suzanne Walker
Head of Producing & Touring – Bia Oliveira
Senior Producer – Ghislaine Granger
Assistant Producer – Hannah Gibbs
Tour Producer – Aristea Charalampidou
Marketing Manager – Jordan Archer
Press Officer – Laura Neil

With special thanks to Helmut Vogt, Marco Ferullo and Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, Francesco Pietrella, The Pina Bausch Foundation, Salomon Bausch and Ismaël Dia, Essar Gabriel, Alessio Romani

Special thanks to Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti and the City of Spoleto – Italy for the support

Originally commissioned by Sadler’s Wells