Cubans are also very proud of their rumba: it shows how they have been able to recover from a traumatic history and create their own culture, without forgetting where they come from. In this example alone, we can see the lineage of an enormous heritage which is strongly linked to colonisation. It is also descended from the cultures of the African slaves who belonged to many different peoples – Yoruba, Abomey, Congo, Arrarra – and the Cuban rumba itself gave rise to a Congolese version of the dance. It is descended notably from flamenco, brought over by the colonizers - which was itself born of resistance and resilience in Andalusian Spain. The Cuban rumba, for example, is a very representative example: this is a fundamentally creolised culture. And they are not danced anywhere in the world the same way they are in their homelands. These dances are alive and unpredictable. This quest led me to the Senegalese sabar, the Cuban rumba and, finally, second-line Buckjumping and the dances of the New Orleans 'Mardi Gras Indian” culture.

I based my choices on the map of transatlantic trafficking and French colonial history, while taking an interest in dances that have both a social and a ritual dimension to them, dances that convey a history and are still very popular today, and which are continuing to evolve. How did you choose these three destinations? Wherever you go, you are ultimately a stranger to someone and at the same time their echo. I've experienced a lot of uprooting myself on these trips, while still feeling at home. It was essential that I go and see them in their original context, geographically speaking. Which is difficult to describe if you have not experienced it yourself! I have been working for years on notions of resilience and uprooting, through these African-American dances and their social function.

So you went Cuba, Senegal and New Orleans all in a row. This led me to the history of African-Americans and the transatlantic slave trade, then to researching and collecting the traditional, creolised social dances born in Africa and the Americas. So I became interested in the African-American and Latino-American communities from that era. I wanted to better understand the history of these dances, which are so popular in France despite having originated in New York in the 1970s. The connection between hip-hop and the dances of the African diaspora is at the heart of your research.

Houdin