"Germaine Acogny – The Essence of Dance" is a documentary film about the exceptional dancer and internationally renowned Senegalese choreographer Germaine Acogny. The second feature film by Greta-Marie Becker paints a powerful portrait of this extraordinary artist, who is celebrated internationally for her commitment, her teaching and her stage presence.

The career of the "mother of African contemporary dance" began when the poet and statesman Léopold Sédar Senghor wanted to turn Senegal into a centre for contemporary art in Africa with his radical cultural policy. As the first president after the country's independence (1960), he founded the National Dance Institute Mudra Afrique in 1977 together with the French star choreographer Maurice Béjart. In her early 30s, Germaine Acogny became the first artistic director of the pioneering dance institute.

After years on the international stage, Acogny returned to Senegal. Together with her German husband Helmut Vogt, she has built up one of the most important schools for contemporary dance since the end of the 1990s: L'École des Sables.

Alongside Acogny herself, internationally renowned artists such as Alesandra Seutin, co-choreographer of "UNTIL THE BEGINNINGS", teach at the École des Sables. The film also follows dancers and musicians from this production as well as from "Reparation Nation", revealing how Acogny's artistic legacy lives on in the next generation.

Germany-wide cinema release: 28 May 2026