»Stop Dancing!« is a collaborative dance project between Dagmar Bock (Germany), Nicolas Bertrand Kakanou (Togo) & Frimousse Yacobi (Benin). The starting point is a phrase heard time and again: “Stop dancing.” – sometimes as a prohibition, sometimes as a comment, sometimes as a boundary. The title is not an instruction, but a question: Who is allowed to dance – when, where and for how long? And what happens when movement is interrupted? At a time when colonial continuities and global power asymmetries also permeate the art world, the three choreographers and performers come together with different stories and experiences, as well as unequal conditions regarding mobility, visibility and access. Dance is not understood here as a solution, but as a form of questioning, of remembering and of enduring difference. »Stop Dancing!« explores dance as a space of resistance – as a place for uncertainty, for responsibility and for the question of how artistic dialogue becomes possible under unequal conditions.

The project is being realised in cooperation with M.Bassy, as is the workshop »A Call to Art« taking place as part of the project – a workshop for artists affected by racism, as well as for artists who face social or economic barriers on their path to realising their artistic vision.

Concept: Dagmar Bock
Performance & Creation: Dagmar Bock, Nicolas Bertrand Kakanou, Frimousse Yacobi
Production: Sina Rundel

18.7.2026, 7 PM: Performance with Dagmar Bock, Nicolas Bertrand Kakanou & Frimousse Yacobi + Artist Talk moderated by Martha Laraba Sambe

Venue M.Bassy e.V., Schlüterstrasse 80, 20146 Hamburg
Entrance: 15,00 € (Fee reductions are available for workshop participants if needed.)
Please reserve via: production.anasalcido@gmail.com

19.7.2026, 12 - 4 PM: Workshop »A Call to Art« with Dagmar Bock, Nicolas Kakanou, Martha Laraba Sambe, Ana Ruth Salcido Roa & Frimousse Yacobi

This workshop is a space for racialized artists and artists navigating social or economic barriers in pursuit of their artistic vision. The space invites a return to the creative impulse that exists beyond the pressures of visibility, income constraints, legitimacy, and survival. It is rooted in the understanding that artistic creativity emerges from something deeper, greater, and more enduring than any structure, system, or circumstance. Acknowledging the realities of systemic oppression and exclusion, particularly as they affect racialized artists and artists facing social or economic barriers, the space seeks to create room beyond these conditions and reconnect participants with their creative spirit, artistic autonomy, and sense of purpose. What happens when we strip away the performance of survival and return to our original impulse to create for the sake of creativity? The space explores how dance and somatic practices can support artists in navigating structural barriers while remaining connected to their creative vision.

Venue: M.Bassy e.V., Schlüterstrasse 80, 20146 Hamburg
Entrance: free
Please reserve via: production.anasalcido@gmail.com

Artists, Dancers & Performers:

Nicolas Bertrand Amagan Kakanou

Nicolas Bertrand Amagan Kakanou is a dancer and choreographer from Togo. His work blends urban dance styles with contemporary and traditional influences. Having started out in breakdancing, he founded the group Game Over Masterz, with whom he won several competitions in West Africa. He has collaborated with various international companies and developed his own choreographic works. As a fellow of the Impuls Création Chorégraphique (ICC) 2025 programme, he is exploring connections between urban movement, ritual, and contemporary dance.

Frimousse Yacobi

Frimousse Yacobi is a contemporary dancer and performer from Benin. He trained at the Irène Tassembedo International Dance School (EDIT) in Burkina Faso and at Multicorps in Benin, and has taken part in international workshops, including »Body for the 21st Century – Act 4« in Mali. He has collaborated with choreographers such as Marcel Gbeffa and Marguerite Salvy. In 2025, he co-created the piece »1+1=1« with Rodrigue Sagbo Toviho. With the solo »DÉSÉQUILIBRE«, presented at the Connexion Festival, he explores a world characterised by imbalance, injustice, and conflict.

Martha Laraba Sambe

Martha Laraba Sambe is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and researcher from southern Kaduna State, Nigeria, working at the intersection of African spiritual knowledge, decolonial thought, and social justice. Her work draws on the animist traditions of her ancestral lineage to explore the intersections of the spiritual and the political, memory, identity, and systems of power rooted in colonialism and white supremacy. She is the author of the memoir »Dear Bode, What the Fire Gave Me«, the creator of »African Spiritualities« and »Spring of Wellness«, and a performer whose work blends ritual, embodied practice and storytelling. Through writing, research, and performance, she creates spaces for critical reflection, healing, and collective re-imagining.

Dagmar Bock

Dagmar Bock lives in Hamburg and has been working in the fields of dance, theatre, and performance since 1998. In her projects, she explores the conditions of encounter and community with a focus on access and social participation. As a performer, she has worked at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, as well as with Cie Toula Limnaios, Sasha Waltz & Guests, and Déjà Donné, amongst others. After studying theatre directing at the Zurich University of the Arts, she developed numerous collaborative performance projects. Her artistic practice examines ambivalences and transformative potentials at the intersection of body and power, representation, and intimacy.

We would like to thank the Ministry of Culture and Media - in Hamburg for their funding and financial support, K3 – Zentrum für Choreographie | Tanzplan Hamburg for providing rehearsal spaces, and everyone who has supported this project with a donation.