Me and my hair: a hair cabaret, a must-see

A breathtaking cabaret

Thursday, January 6, 2011, Dinanga Van Kabundi

Me and My Hair: many would be tempted to think that, behind this title, there are still stories about girls... But far from it! This play is mainly about identity... undoubtedly because of the particularity of this hair... Kinky hair...
Doesn't sociologist Juliette Smeralda write in her book "Black Skin, Kinky Hair, History of an Alienation": "It (kinky hair) seems out of place when worn in its natural state, and by women. [...] Getting rid of the stigma-hair would therefore have become a leitmotif to which few women offer real resistance. [...] Through the practice of straightening, the aim is to free the hair from the tyranny of the gaze that socially penalizes."
Questioning one's relationship with hair
Eva Doumbia started from a personal experience that she began to share. First with the author, Marie-Louise Bibish Mumbu, a young Congolese writer whose first novel vividly depicts daily life in Kinshasa [1]. Then with dancers, actresses, and singers from the two Congos, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Cape Verde, Brazil, and Haiti.In the Gabonese capital, Libreville, a group of about fifteen actors questioned their relationship with their hair. Several themes were thus discussed: the history of traditional adornment, aesthetic choices, straightening, weaving, extensions, subjugation to American models, damage caused by poorly executed straightening or overly heavy extensions, the reasons that lead women to make certain aesthetic choices. Following these questions, stories emerged, worked on through improvisation. Creation residencies thus took place in several countries, before the team was formed and met in Praia, Cape Verde, for the creation of the show.
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