Danço Congo I

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Two or three dozen of performers on stage, including musicians and figurants make everything and everyone around them vibrate. A backyard or a square, a space appropriated for the moment of the show, does not have any scenography, unnecessary because of the expressiveness of the actors and the imagination of the spectators.

The danço congo or danço, as it is called in the islands, is a dramatic Santomean dance, exuberant in colors, sounds and movements. It tells the story of a plantation and the discussion about its property or, in another version, the fight for the hidden treasure. In the story, the reality mergers with supernaturality in a truly genuine way. A very unique cultural manifestation, which origins have disappeared in the meanders of time, but which is still alive in São Tomé and Príncipe. It is likely that it is one of the few santomean cultural manifestations that does not have any European influences and may have arisen in the islands, created by the islanders.

Magdalena Bialoborska, 2019