Daredevil Circus Act Flying Into Lenfest Center

‘Afrique En Cirque’ Coming Tuesday

The Lenfest Center’s opening performance for the season, “Afrique En Cirque,” takes place this Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the Keller Theatre.

Winner of the Washington and Lee University student body “Best Event of 20242025 Season,” the daredevil, family-friendly cirque is part of the Lenfest Outreach and Engagement Series, “Expand the Arts!”— featuring artistic alliances, outreach and community engagement collaborations, and engaging performance experiences.

Online ticket sales for “Afrique En Cirque” are available at my.wlu.edu/lenfest-center. Tickets prices are $35 for the general public, $32 for seniors, and $29 for W&L faculty and staff. Taxes and processing fees are included in ticket pricing.

The Lenfest box office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Patrons can contact the box office by calling (540) 458-8000 or emailing [email protected].

In this colorful show, acrobats execute high-level gravity- defying moves and human pyramids, accompanied by the contemporary sounds of live Afro-Jazz, percussion and kora (a long-neck harp lute dating back 800-1,000 years and helps West Africans tell their stories).

Yamoussa Bangoura first became interested in the circus arts as a young man growing up in Conakry, Guinea in the 1990s. He studied the circus performers he saw on European TV and practiced on the beach around his home. He also studied the Nyamakala tradition of circus, practiced by the Fula people of West Africa. He eventually joined Guinea’s original circus company, Circus Baobob, and toured Africa and Europe.

In the early 2000s, Bangoura was recruited by Cirque Eloize to come to Canada, a Montreal-based Canadian cirque company. While in Canada he also performed with Cirque du Soleil and Cavalia (cirque with horses). In 2007, he realized his dream and opened his own company, Kalabanté Productions in Montreal, Canada. He recruited many of his extended family members to join the company, including his twin sisters, brothers and cousins.

The company began doing shows in Quebec, and over the years expanded to all of Canada, the USA and now performs all over the world. In 2018, Kalabante opened their own studio and school in Montreal, where they offer classes in African dance, cirque and drumming.