A journey marked by acrobatics, tightrope walking, and stilt walking.
Issouf was born in 1989 in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). There, he performed “street batool” with friends, a fusion of hip-hop and African dance. He then learned acrobatics from Mr. Sanou, an instructor at the Espace Rencontre Jeunesse (ERJ) in Dafra, the city of Bobo’s socio-cultural activity center.
Two years later, Mr. Sanou taught him how to walk on stilts, juggle clubs, and play the ngoni, a stringed instrument typical of West Africa.
The sister city partnership between Châlons-en-Champagne and Bobo-Dioulasso has led to numerous cultural exchanges, including one initiated by the CNAC in 2010 focused on circus arts, with support from the Institut Français.
Thanks to the provision of teaching materials, the training of a teacher from the ERJ in Dafra, and the organization of on-site workshops by the CNAC, he was able to train in trampoline and acrobatics with Otto Camara and in aerial silks with Tatiana Mosio-Bogonga.
After three months of intensive training with Tatiana Mosio-Bogonga and two weeks of creative work with Salia Sanou in collaboration with the Cnac, he was selected to join the Cnac’s first year as an associate student.
When the teaching staff gave him the choice of whether or not to continue the full program, Issouf seized this opportunity to further refine his circus skills and hone his training leading up to the graduation performance.
Issouf is thus turning his passion into reality thanks to the collaboration of the Twinning Committee of the cities of Châlons-en-Champagne and Bobo-Dioulasso, the French Institute in Bobo-Dioulasso, and the CNAC.