By John Owoo
(In Tunis – Tunisia)
Carthage International Dance Festival 2023
A number of panel and round table discussions on various topics and subjects formed an integral part of the 5th edition of the Carthage International Dance Festival, which is currently ongoing in the Tunisian capital, Tunis.
Panelists include dance academy administrators, choreographers, dancers, festival directors, academics, policy makers and journalists among others, who represent various countries around the globe.
Topics discussed among experts and patrons include “The Critic – The Artists Best Enemy?”, “Pedagogy or Transmission – What is Dance Education Like in Tunisia?” and “Audience and Contemporary Dance in Tunisia” among others.
On the role of critics, questions raised include who is the critic writing for? do they serve as a bridge? do their analysis outlive the artistic creation? is he /she an ally or destroyer of the artist? does he /she has the power to enhance a creative work that has no intrinsic value? – and the relationship between a critic and an artist.
Panelists for this topic, which include Eustace Agboton (Journalist, No’o Cultures), Léa Chalmont (Manager, Franceand Germany), Oumaima Bahri (Dancer, Tunisia) and Hayet Essayeb (Journalist, Tunisia) dilated on the issue from diverse perspectives with Elsa Despiney (France) as moderator.
It was generally agreed that an art critic needs to follow some fundamental steps including observation, reflection, analysis, contextualization, interpretation and others to ensure fairness, professionalism and accuracy in reporting.
Equally, there is a need for an indispensable interaction between artists and critical journalists since in most cases, this relationship is harmed because each party is unaware of the other party’s role and tend not interact with each other.
It also touched on artists ego as well as the limits and legitimacy of art critics, especially in the age of the explosion of social media. Thus, several questions were put on the table including – what public(s) are critics writing for? What audience(s) are artists creating for?
The experience of a No’o Cultures program led by the Association of North-West Cultures, which initiated the establishment an arts critics seminar and award schemes and a website that specializes in arts criticism in Africa, which has been of immense support, was equally shared at the forum.
