Betty Tchomanga
Betty Tchomanga
I was born in 1989 in a French region of Charente-Maritime. My father is Cameroonian and my mother is French. At the age of 9 I start my first lessons of modern jazz dance and classical dance. From 2004 to 2006 I study in Conservatoire de Bordeaux as well as with Alain Gonotey Cie Lullaby. In 2007 I turn, particularly, towards contemporary dance and join choreographic artists course in Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in Angers (CNDC) supervised by Emmanuelle Huynh.
At the same time I keep on with my literary studies at Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle until 2014, where I get my master’s degree in Modern Literature .
I finish my CNDC Angers courses in 2009 and at the same time I start my performer’s career with Emmanuelle Huynh (Cribles, Augures) and Alain Buffard (Tout va bien). Afterwards, I multiply my performer’s experience for choreographers with various aesthetics: Raphaëlle Delaunay (Bitter Sugar), Fanny de Chaillé (Passage à l’acte), Gaël Sesboüé (Grammes), Éléonore Didier (Moi, mes copines, à l’instant où ça s’arrête), Anne Collod (Le parlement des Invisibles), Herman Diephuis (Clan ; Mix), Nina Santès (Hymen Hymne).
Nonetheless, this experience is mainly influenced by my encounter and collaboration with Marlene Monteiro Freitas. We started working together in 2014 and still do today (D’ivoire et chair, les statues souffrent aussi ; Bacchantes, prélude pour une purge).
Other artistic experiences continue to nourish my performer’s practice. In particular, the ones with the plastic artist Alex Ceccetti and also my lead role in Secteur IX B, a film of Mathieu K. Abonnenc that he presented at Venice Biennale in 2015.
Since my graduation from CNDC in Angers 2009 I never dissociated the practice of the performer from that of the creator. The latter will take different forms: in 2012 I create –A– ou il a sûrement peur de l’eau le poisson in collaboration with musicien Romain Mercier ; then in 2013, a show in situ called Le Rivage in collaboration with Oriane Déchery and Jérôme Andrieu.
In 2016, I join l’Association Lola Gatt Productions chorégraphiques based in Brest, as an associated choreographer together with Gaël Sesboüé and Marie-Laure Caradec. The very same year I choreograph and direct a play for three performers called Madame. Nowadays I work on a solo project called Mascarades that I choreograph and perform.
Betty Tchomanga
Crédits photos
© Queila Fernandez
• On tour •
Mascarades • Creation 2020
Mami Wata is a goddess of water, a figure from the depths of night, of power and sexuality. A stranded mermaid who faces people watching her. The bottom of her chin, her neck, her arms, the back of her hands and her chest are painted in black. Her eyebrows are slightly black as well. She wears worn out jean shorts and a loose white t-shirt that is a bit short and shows up her belly time to time. her legs and feet are bare.
She jumps.
The jump that goes through her is a vertical jump, a regular one. Music is loud, rythm is repetitive.
The words that her mouth articulates sound more like snippets, an underneath scream that resurfaces occasionally.
She declaims.
As gorgon’s snakes, little by little, her hair go loose and follow her jump movements. Her arms hollow forward and the push back. Her head tilts backwards and we can only see her neck and her chest that is slightly curved forward. her arms are wide open as if they hold a big dress.
She is dazzled.
Her mouth drools and snot comes out of her nose. A mask appears. The jump never stops to cross her body, she moves back and forth between surface and water depths.
