Circus Baobab presents 'Yé!', a favorite at the Avignon Festival

The show “Yé” by the Guinean company Circus Baobab has been sold out at the Scala Provence theater since the start of the Avignon Festival.

Thirteen young artists from Conakry deliver a powerful message: Success is attainable even with limited resources.

Mamadouba Youla, acrobat-dancer, explains: “We use the circus arts as a tool for social inclusion. In Conakry, we had no support for safety mats, so we trained by the sea or sometimes on the street. That's where I met my friends who are here today.

The impressive physical performances of these talented circus artists include dizzying human pyramids, hand-to-hand combat and breathtaking contortions.

Only two women perform in this troupe. Aïcha Keita took up the challenge out of a passion for dance and acrobatics.

“I learned this art in Guinea thanks to my uncle, my mother's brother, who started out in this profession. He taught me and my sister everything. My cousin and I are the only women in the group. It's not easy every day with the men,” she said.

The skit is titled “Yé”, which means water in the Sousou language. Performing with plastic water bottles strewn on the stage, these Guinean artists illustrate the tensions linked to the lack of water, while raising awareness on a number of issues.

The artists take turns addressing the audience in Sousou before being projected into a net filled with empty bottles.

“The young people said, we'd like to talk about water, because Guinea is the water tower of West Africa, but where we live, there's no water or it's intermittent, so we're obliged to have water bottles and so on. We also wanted to tackle issues of corruption, lack of electricity and violence against women. All these issues came from the artists," said Richard Djoudi, the producer of the show .

In response to environmental and societal challenges, Circus Baobab transmits explosive energy to audiences through circus, offering a stunning African artistic experience.