And so the earth shook at the elephant’s footsteps. He was brown. In his belly lived the memory of the world. And the road less taken, the one that returns to the sun, however long the night shall last.

With In the Belly of the Brown Elephant, the choreographer and performer takes on themes that are dear to her heart: Memory, Transcendence and Survival, specifically within the Afro-descendant legacy. Going beyond the inexpressible, she threads an organic tangle of storytelling and afro-contemporary dance that wanders in the shadow of what is perceptible.

An initiatory journey hinging on the point where the human being collides with its own power, In the Belly of the Brown Elephant narrates an enigmatic dance that celebrates resistance.

First presented at the MAI (Montréal, Arts Interculturels), in May 2016, then at the World Social Forum in Montreal in August 2016, Sarah Elola’s first solo creation would go on to critical acclaim at the 5th FIDO (Festival International de Danses de Ouagadougou) in Burkina Faso, in February 2017.