Translator: Hélène Vernet Reviewer: Claire Ghyselen
Harmony,
I wished I've had some!
But my start in life was in total chaos!
I am born in Paris from a Congolese father, a dancer,
and my mother was one of his student at La Rochelle.
The story goes that my mother went into labour in a dance studio.
Female dancers and musicians accompanied her to the hospital.
I am supposed to be born to the rhythm of african drums.
One year after my birth, my father kidnapped me,
and sent me to Congo - which was called Zaïre back then -
to be raised by his parents so that I do not grow like a white man.
At six years old, I came back to Paris.
I did not know anything about France,
neither the language, nor the climate,
not even my mother who I found again when I was eleven years old.
My father, a bohemian without any fixed lover,
carried me around to the rhythm of his conquests:
Paris 5th,
Saint-Denis,
Paris 15th, la Martinique, Paris 20th!
So, in those circumstances, school wasn't my strong suit.
According to my high school,
I was not stupid enough to undertake a vocational training,
and not intelligent enough to attend a general high school.
So I was going to attend a "STI" Electrical Engineering!
Even today, I still do not know what it means!
Actually, I failed my High School diploma twice,
losing out to a three-phase asynchronous generator!
It's also called a "forklift"! (Laughter)
What a fancy programme!
It didn't bother me very much not to get my High School Diploma.
What bothered me though, was to have to continue studying.
But a question bothered me even more back then, and it was:
"Where are you from?" ...
"- Well ... From Paris!
- No, I mean, really!
- Aaah! You are talking about my gorgeous ebony skin!
From my Congolese father.
- Ah, that's it! You are Congolese!"
Faced by such a chaos
where people take decision about my future and my identity,
I decided to take my life into my own hands.
It might be chaos, but at least, it would be my chaos.
So when I was 27 year old,
I went back to Congo to meet my grandmother.
Meeting back with Congo didn't go very well.
In France, I was nicknamed: "Muesli".
In Congo, my nickname was: "Rémi", my second surname,
because in Congo, only saints mentioned on the calendar are acceptable.
There was no place for me in Congo either.
So, I hit the road!
... For a road trip through ten countries in Africa.
That's the one time being black was an advantage!
Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin,
Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal.
In Senegal,
the visit of Goree Island was a shock.
Under the mock-ups of ships - slave ships -
was mentioned the ship's home ports and shipbuilding:
"La Rochelle,"
my mother's hometown.
It means that I come from both a slave and a slaveholder...
My identity is a total chaos.
So how do I live with this chaos?
First, by assuming my own body,
because without body there is no life.
Besides, this body enabled me to travel across all these countries,
on foot, by bus, by canoe...
My body is my first identity.
In Africa, there are spotters everewhere!
Here, we can make the distinction between a Norwegian and a Portuguese.
Over there, people can recognize a Senegalese from a Congolese.
In all of these countries, I am the foreigner,
or, in the best case, a black from Ethiopia,
who is never dark enough!
It is a mental and physical challenge to travel alone across countries.
So, you have to be strong, and transform your body into a machine.
For me, that involves dancing,
running,
crossfit,
and yoga.
In October 2012, I came back to France after my trip to Senegal,
strongly committed to go back to school.
But...
I also committed not to shave until I got a degree,
either my beard, or my hair! (Laughter)
As if I did not have enough troubles!
Like this!
And like this!
(Laughter)
I do not have my High School Diploma but I have always been committed.
I have...
been active in associations, and in youth political movements.
I even got to work for the Paris City Hall with elected representatives,
by omitting to mention on my resume my lack of diploma.
Associative commitment was my school, my popular education
because school is not the only place to get education.
All I was lacking was a diploma.
So next objective: to get my experience validated
to be able to start a Master in Political Sciences at La Sorbonne, Paris I.
Through this, I wanted to change the negative image I had about myself,
and disavow the prophecy of my Latin teacher in 7th grade,
who hmmm...
who told me that I would end up like my brothers
who are dressed in green in the city of Paris,
meaning, a garbage collector.
I do not have my High School Diploma.
But since November 23, 2016,
I have a Master's degree in Political Sciences.
(Applause)
Civic engagement has been a great school for me.
It helped me to get a diploma,
and it empowered me to learn, to give and to act, all at the same time.
For me, it means working with young people
from popular neighbourhoods and rural areas.
Bringing to light and set in motion
young people from cities and rural areas
through gathering,
vocational training, and condemning injustice,
was the trigger that determined my vocation.
I became community organizer,
organizing the disorganized!
(Laughter)
I started this job in 2013,
in an association called: "Passeport Avenir",
which fight for equality in opportunities.
There, I created a community of future business leaders.
These young people who are involved...
in social movements,
are fighting for equality in opportunities and to stop discrimination.
They are a group of young people showing the way to success to others.
In three years,
more than 153 young people joined the community "Different Leaders".
Together, they organized more than 55 events:
a "Tour de France" for self-affirmation,
a "World Equality in Opportunities Day" -
the foundation of a "World Equality in Opportunities Day" -
in Britain, Germany, USA,
in France and in Morocco.
But...
what about harmony?
I hadn't found it yet despite this experience
that was wonderful.
So, I decided to go back to my real profession: dance
and instill in it all my experiences that kept me away from it,
through an association called "Loba"
that I co-founded with a friend, William, in 2008.
We are both dancers.
He is a hip-hop dancer, and I dance Congolese dance.
We wanted to engage in "artivism",
an art with a mission
and dance works that promote citizen action.
The association and art enable us to reach a large audience,
and to have an open dialogue, where differences are tamed away.
The Loba association provides dance classes,
trains and produces a rap group called "SRB".
SRB's leader, Bruno, designs events
dedicated to the mix of various public together
and the discovery of other cultures,
through music, dance, and graphic arts.
For us, Loba is art at the service of the city.
Because our art should express what we have in our heart.
Dance! Dance to communicate!
Communicate to live!
Eventually, I have learned how to live with myself,
with others,
and with my surrounding.
The traditional Congolese dance is my...
my passion to live, my resilience.
I have found myself in it. I express myself in it.
It allows me to create a dialogue.
It is my mother language.
At last, I understood that...
my life will never be...
will never be a chaos anymore. It will be a harmonious chaos.
And from my life, I'll forge my art.
(African drum)
(Clapping in rhythm)
(African drum, whistle, clapping in rhythm)
Haaa..... Yoh!
(Applause)
(African drum roll)
(African drum and whistle)
Eh! Hey!
(Clapping in rhythm)
Eh!
Oh!
Dance with me!
(Clapping in rhythm)
I have a mojo about my passion of life,
a short slogan that says:
"Transform your body into a machine,
your brain into a weapon,
your heart into an art,
and your life into an art work."
Thank you very much!
(Applause)