Founded in 1973 by Rose Marie Guiraud (1944-2020), Les Guirivoires is the first national ballet company of Africa’s Côte d’Ivoire. Guiraud began dancing at the age of four, and achieved recognition as an actress, choreographer, singer, playwright, and writer. She introduced generations of young Africans to dance, and assembled her company from graduates of her school, EDEC (Dance and Cultural Exchange School). Most of the performers were originally disadvantaged youth, orphans, and street children who were taken in by Guiraud. Eventually comprising 60 dancers, singers, actors, musicians, costume designers, set designers, stage managers, music directors, and others, the troupe tours internationally. In residence at the Pillow during the same week as the Cambodian Dance Project, Les Guirivoires participated in an extraordinary cultural exchange which was recorded for the Jacob’s Pillow Archives.
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