Cirque of the Diaspora
As a boy, multidisciplinary performer Yamoussa Bangoura didn’t have to run away from home to join the circus. At least not initially. Home—the West African nation of Guinea—has a tradition of acrobatics and a legendary circus of its own: Circus Baobab. After Sundays spent captivated by television broadcasts of European circus acts, Bangoura and other kids would head to the nearby beach in the capital city of Conakry to emulate what they’d witnessed. There, acrobatics were being performed and taught, and it’s where Bangoura landed his first coaches.
As a teenager, Bangoura auditioned for a film about Circus Baobab, got the role and stayed on. While performing and traveling with the troupe in Spain, he was recruited by Cirque Éloize which led him to the capital of the circus arts world: Montreal.
In 2007, Bangoura founded Cirque Kalabanté (before launching his own troupe, he also performed with Cirque du Soleil, the equestrian troupe Cavalia and ArtCirq).
For years, the Kalabanté and its founder have been delivering a mix of African-infused storytelling, acrobatic feats and more to the beats and rhythms of Afro-Jazz music. In 2023, Bangoura received Canada’s inaugural Circus Arts Recognition Award.
In “Afrique en Cirque,” Bangoura—along with some of his siblings who are part of his company of artists—return home by immersing audiences in a vision of daily village life in Guinea. The show captures “the strength, agility and life’s joys of young Africans,” Cirque Kalabanté promises. In addition to performing, the company has a studio dedicated to teaching African and circus arts.
“The circus reminds us that it takes a community to make something truly beautiful,” wrote the late fantasy writer and circus aficionado Terry Pratchett. “Afrique en Cirque” honors the community that fed Bangoura’s circus dreams and, not to be understated, its discipline.
The physical rigor required of the circus is irrepressible: From performers drumming djembes to contortionists pretzeling to acrobats constructing pyramids of sinew and muscle. In addition to his other roles, Bangoura drums and plays the tall, hybrid, 21-string instrument known as the kora. A few injuries—a strained meniscus in his shoulder and a torn Achilles—attest to the risks of the work and underline the focus required to consistently deliver joy and bravado.
“When I do circus, all the bad things go away, you’re just living in the present moment,” Bangoura says in “Circus Without Borders,” a 2015 documentary detailing the work Kalabanté and Guillaume Saladin’s ArtCirq were doing to bring circus arts to their communities of origin: Guinean and Inuit. “It’s like when I’m drumming, all the energy changes. It becomes positive,” he adds. It’s an energy Cirque Kalabanté shares show after show.
Cirque Kalabanté performs on the Artist Series at Macky Auditorium on Nov. 7, 2025.