Aguibou Bougobali Sanou
Aguibou Bougobali Sanou (known as ‘Bougobali’) is a dancer, choreographer, musician, storyteller, and Director of the In-Out Dance Festival in Burkina Faso. His work is a mix of West African Mandingo traditional dances, Brazilian capoeira, and theater expressions drawn from his work with influential European stage directors. His training in sacred and profane African traditional dance in his native country combines with other forms of expression to create a unique theatrical statement.
Biography
Sanou hails from Burkina Faso, West Africa and is a dancer, choreographer, musician, storyteller and Director of the In-Out Dance Festival in Burkina Faso. He is a winner of the highly selective and prestigious US State Department Scholarship Fulbright 2018-2019 where he taught "History and Appreciation of World Dance". He has also developed the African Traditional and Contemporary Dance curriculum at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, CT. In 2016, he was a semi-finalist of Africa’s Got Talent. Sanou trained with choreographers and theater directors such as Salia Sanou, Carolyn Carlson, Thierry de Mey, Luca Fusi GM and Régine Chopinot Alexandre de la Caffinière.
Sanou's work is a mix of West African Mandingo traditional dances, Brazilian capoeira, and theater expressions drawn from his work with influential European stage directors. His training in sacred and profane African traditional dance in his native country combines with other forms of expression to create a unique theatrical statement. Sanou is currently pursuing his MFA at The University of the Arts (UARTS) Philadelphia. He has won several choreographic awards including the bronze medal in the 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie in Nice, France; 2nd prize of SNC 2012; and Delphic Laurel Award in the 2009 Delphic Games in South Korea.
In the past ten years, Sanou has developed a dynamic performance and teaching presence which has led him to work assignments in Mexico, Israel, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Morocco, France, France and the United States. He has also created a dance program in a prison in Burkina Faso and has worked with more than 70 prisoners in order to help them reenter society. Sanou was a visiting faculty member at Bennington for Fall 2022.