Some years ago, Dinozord came across a cemetery close to the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren where the bodies of Congolese people are buried. These people had been brought to Europe for the Brussels International Exposition in 1897. The World’s Fair included a human zoo staging people from the Congolese Free State, King Leopold’s private property. This is the starting point for Dinozord’s new work.

Dinozord is a dancer and rapper who works and lives in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Brussels. He has participated in training programmes at the Studios Kabako and took part in Faustin Linyekula´s works such as “The Dialogue Series: iii. Dinozord” (2007) and “more more more… future” (2009), with which he traveled through Africa, Europe and North America. Since 2008 he has collaborated with Brussels-based choreographer Ula Sickle, with whom he created the solo “Solid Gold” (2010), which has been performed in Brussels (Belgium), Kinshasa and Montreal (Canada). He is currently working on his first solo piece, produced by the Studios Kabako. Dinozord performed in “Das neue schwarze Denken – Chefferie” by Gintersdorfer/Klaßen at HAU Hebbel am Ufer in 2014.

Franck Moka lives and works in Kisangani (Democratic Republic of the Congo). He started rap in the late 1990s and worked with the musician Pasnas, with whom he was on stage in Congo, Rwanda and in Europe. Moka has also worked with artists such as Philipp Kroll, Gael Faye and Smockey. He has been working on his own music projects and has presented them in South Africa, Congo and in Germany. His rap, which is a critique and a condemnation, is a mixture of electronics music, Congolese rumba, Sebene and hardcore rap. Besides Moka performed in “Highway to Heaven / Paradise Road South-African”, a work by South African choreographer Hlengiwe Lushaba, which toured in Congo and in Germany as part of the Dance Dialogues Afrika programme.

Dorine Mokha has been living in Kisangani (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and has been working for the Studios Kabako since 2009. He worked together with choreographers such as Hafiz Dhaou, Faustin Linyekula, Ula Sickle, Andreya Ouamba, Boyzie Cekwana and Sylvain Prunenec. In 2010, Mokha performed “Reclus”, a duet with Papsher Kikuni, at the Contemporary Dance Platform in Kinshasa. His solo, “Entre-deux” (2013) was performed in Kisangani, Lubumbashi and Kinshasa (Connexion KIN festival). In 2013, Dorine Mokha worked as an assistant director of “Drums and Digging” by Faustin Linyekula. The same year, he participated in the SHARED SPACES network, including participation at the Connexion KIN festival and the Theaterformen festival in Hanover. In 2014, Mokha was a fellow in the special program Africa in Solitude at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart. He met there South-African choreographer Desiré Davids with whom he is currently creating “Trio sans titre”, a piece coproduced by the Studios Kabako as part of the PAMOJA programme.