Dancing Together: Building Community to the Beat of Werewere Liking & the Village Ki-Yi

A Workshop with Guillaume Semon Yoboué, PhD

Dr. Yoboué encourages you to wear traditional African attire, or attire of similar color palettes, in the spirit of the image above!

Reservation required: email cflaugh@buffalo.edu

Please consult the following links to learn more about Werewere Liking and the Village Ki-Yi:

Village Ki-Yi M’bock

Information on Werewere Liking (in English)

Werewere Liking: Interview with Marjolijn de Jager (May 2015)

Bio: Guillaume Yoboué, PhD (UB 2023), is an African studies and African theatre specialist, as well as an educator in the Rochester Public School District for over 25 years, where he has taught, among many subjects, French and Swahili. In addition to scholarly contributions like “Performing Africana institutions: The enchevêtrement of futures and faith in the theater of Werewere Liking” (Transnational Africana Women’s Fictions, ed. Cheryl Sterling, Routledge: 2021), Guillaume has also conducted multiple interviews with artists such as Koffi Kwahulé and Werewere Liking (La Reine-Mère). He also studied with La Reine-Mère while in residence at the Village Ki-Yi in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. In this workshop, Guillaume will guide participants through the history and practice of the djingo, “une danse thérapie extra” unique to the Village Ki-Yi, and a technique which fosters perseverance, self-transcendence, creativity and well-being, for children and adults alike.

This event is generously sponsored by Cora P. Maloney Center (CPMC), The Humanities Institute Performance Research Workshop, and The College of Arts and Sciences Office of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging.