It was impossible for little Salia to foresee the life that awaited him. How did he go from his native Burkina Faso to the city of Montpellier where he lives? With a lot of courage, determination and talent.
The choreographer was born on 8/8/1969 in Léguéma, a village in western Burkina Faso. Nature, his parents’ fields and above all the community. Here we are one among others, no individualities.
Salia will retain his taste for the collective.
When he leaves for the capital he takes theater and African dance lessons but applies for a police commissioner competition. Graduated, after 3 years of study, he will never have time to practice because Mathilde Monnier, great French choreographer and new director of the Montpellier Choreographic Center will hire him.
After much hesitation, he will take leave and come to France to live his life as an artist.
Things will follow one after the other, Salia has found his place. He will quickly think about bringing contemporary dance into the tradition of African dance and vice versa. He finds his dance.
The Montpellier Danse festival trusts and supports it, as does the Center National de La Danse in Pantin.
In 2010, the Mouvements Perpetuels company was born with many projects and desire.
His greatest pride? Having founded the first Choreographic Development Center in Africa, La Termitière, located in Ouagadougou … He contributes to professionalizing dance in his country and giving rise to hope for the possible in the younger generation.
Today he is as much at home in Montpellier as in Burkina Faso. And that too is a victory.
