Jolie Ngemi

Jolie Ngemi (born 16 April 1989) is a dancer and performance artist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ngemi was born on 16 April 1989.^[1] She has danced from an early age: she first began to dance in Kinshasa at the Protestant church there.^[2] She also took part in hip-hop dance battles in the streets of Kinshasa with the group, Rue Des Danses Urbains Hip-hop.^[1] She moved to Brussels to study at The Performing Arts and Research Training School (P.A.R.T.S.).^[2] She studied there for two years.^[3]

Ngemi is a well-known dancer and choreographer from the DRC.^[4][5] Her style of dance fuses Congolese dances from the streets and clubs with European traditions of dance.^[2] The style is described it as Chakamadesu A U C - Afro, Urban & Contemporary (chaka madesu is a Congolese stew, cooked in a variety of ways).^[1] In 2006 she worked with the choreographer Jacques Banayang, who introduced her to contemporary dance.^[1] In 2008 she toured Africa and Europe as part of a work created by the choreographer Thomas Styeart.^[1] She has worked with Ula Sickle on a project entitled Jolie and on other projects well-known choreographers.^[2] She has worked with Boris Charmatz on several projects.^[3]

Ngemi's work can be political and in 2015 she collaborated with rapper and producer Baloji on a work that criticised the influence that cellphone and alcohol industries have on society in the DRC.^[6] One venue for this performance was at the Fondation Cartier in Paris.^[7] The work Jolie has been performed around the world, including at the Reykjavik Dance Festival.^[8] It too is political, questioning where the profit from its mineral wealth in diamonds, coltan and tin ends up.^[9] Her 2018 work Identity n’a ngai collaborated with composer Yann Leguay, who used field recordings from Kinshasa at night to inform to piece.^[10] In 2019 she performed in the ensemble for Ligia Lewis' production Water Mill.^[11][12]

• Vimeo: Jolie Ngemi ON identity n’a ngai